


Gifted

by Nekoamamori



Series: Giftless [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2020-09-07 21:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 61
Words: 125,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20316040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nekoamamori/pseuds/Nekoamamori
Summary: Direct sequel to Giftless.  Kat has powers now and Loki has left.  He promised to return to her, but will he be able to keep his word?





	1. Chapter 1

Days and weeks passed and Loki didn’t return. There were no notes, no visits, no contact at all. You returned to your life immediately, determined to keep your word to yourself that you wouldn’t become a useless depressed lump over your boyfriend, no matter how much his absence hurt.You still missed him deeply and your world was lonely without him, but you kept your word. You went on patrols with Tony. You kept up in all of your classwork easily because of the soulbond. You spent time with the other supers.

It was hard, but you managed your life.

You never took the ring Loki had given you off, choosing to hope that one day he would return.

You searched and searched for the spell-book with the portal spell in it, but it was gone. Vanished like it had never existed in this world. You tried to pull the memories of it from the soulbond, to figure out how to open the portal and follow him, but it wasn’t there.

You were cut off.

Your 19th birthday came and went. You allowed yourself tears that day when Loki didn’t come back for you. You had hoped the trouble would be over by then.

You graduated from high school top of the year, which was no surprise since you had access to all of Loki’s memories and knowledge thanks to the soulbond. You and Tony went to take your graduation pictures by your parents’ graves in the cemetery. You even used magic to hold the camera so you could get some shots of yourself and your uncle.

You started college across town and moved into an apartment off campus in Tony’s name. They wouldn’t let a freshman live off campus otherwise, but since it was in your uncle’s name, and he was Tony Stark, they made an exception. It had taken a lot of negotiations with the school and Fury to finally sort your college experience away. Fury wanted you to work full-time for the Avengers. You told him you would after you earned your PhD. You had wanted to be a doctor for so long when you were powerless that you didn’t want to give up on the dream now. You got to test out of most of the classes because of your soulbond with Loki, so you only had a few classes and clinical hours to complete to finish your degree. You could probably do it in a year if you really wanted to. Especially since the school was willing to use your hours healing the Avengers toward your clinical hours. It was a completely illogical plan and there were so many rules broken with it, but in the end, all three parties were happy.

You got an emergency call halfway through one of your lecture courses one day nearly a year after Loki had left. You shut your phone off and stood. You gave a small bow to the Asian professor and an apology. She nodded and the entire class turned to look at you. You had permission to leave all of your classes for emergency calls from the Avengers. You had found out quickly, though, that your disappearances were taken better if you gave them a show when you did. You vanished your bag and sent all of your things back to your apartment. You then used magic to change your clothes to your superhero costume, including the cape you never actually wore as part of it.

“Sigyn!” came the roar of the lecture class. With a bow to them, you teleported back to the compound where the Avengers lived. You actually teleported directly into the infirmary. A safe teleportation spot had been created for you there, and it was extra important now that you lived on your own. You vanished the cape, changing back to normal clothes, and rushed to the emergency bay to find the super who needed your help. It was a brand new kid, one you’d never met before.

“He jumped off of the Metropolis building trying to get his powers,” one of the junior healers told you as you rushed into the room.Since magic was reintroduced to the world, kids tried stupid things to get latent powers to manifest.Like jumping off the Metropolis building.

“I really wish someone would put a stop to that,” you replied as you went over to the kid. You placed your hands on him, your hands glowing blue as you healed the broken bones and put the poor kid back together again. Your powers had grown over the last year and you could do this big of a healing now without being useless for the rest of the day. You finished the healing and smiled at the junior healer. “He’ll be ok. Make sure Fury gives him hell for jumping off the Metropolis building,”

She nodded her agreement. “Will do, Healer Sigyn,” she replied. You were still getting used to being called that.You were so used to just being Kat.It had been a year of having powers and you still hadn’t really adjusted.

While you was home, you checked in on the other patients and healed a couple who needed it. After that, you went upstairs to see if Tony was home. “Kat!” he called the moment you opened his door. You let him wrap you in a hug, even though Uncle Tony wasn’t really a hugger.

“Uncle Tony, you just saw me two days ago.” you had been called out on patrol with the team just the other night.

“I know, but that’s the only time you ever see you anymore, imp,” he whined.

You smiled and grabbed the other video game controller on his coffee table. “Up for a game?” you asked. He laughed and you settled on his couch to play for awhile.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. The next Avengers movie is being filmed here next week. Didn’t know if you wanted to stop by.”

You nodded enthusiastically. “Of course I do!” you replied with a grin. You were friends with a couple of the actors and hadn’t seen them in awhile.

“I worry about you, imp,” Tony said after awhile of kicking his ass at video games.

You rolled your eyes. “Why on Earth for? I’m one of the most powerful supers in existence, and the only time I even go on patrol it’s with you,” you reminded him as you proceeded to kill him in the game. 

Again.

“You’ve isolated yourself from everyone,” he explained.

“Have not,” you replied stubbornly.

“Name one friend you have at school,”

“That doesn’t mean anything. I’m only going to be there for a year, two tops. It doesn’t make sense to get too attached to those kids,” you replied. It didn’t matter that you were younger than everyone in all of your classes. They still acted like kids.

“And when was the last time you went on a date?” he asked.

You glared at him. “Do you really want to know about my love life?” you demanded, hoping that would get him to drop it.

“No, but you worry about you enough to ask.”

“You know very well when my last date was,” you snarled at him. It was uncalled for to be so mean to your uncle when he was just being nice and asking about you, but it wasn’t nice of him to bring it up either.He knew that you hadn’t moved past Loki. 

You wouldn’t move past Loki.

Loki had promised to return.

And you were soulbound.

He _would_ return.

“That’s what I thought,” Tony rolled his eyes.“Kat, you can’t just keep waiting around for him to come back. He’s not coming back. It’s been a year.” Tony told you, gentling his tone.

“He will. He promised,” you told him firmly, though your words sounded like a little girl’s dream instead of the words of the strongest super in the world. You set down the controller and touched the ring Loki had given you the night he left before tracing the patterns of magic that went up your arm, marking you as soulbound. Loki had literally bound your souls and lives together to save your life.

“Kat...” Tony said gently.

You just glared at him. “I’m fine, Uncle Tony,” you told him firmly. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around as often, but I’m in college now and living on my own.”

He wrapped you in another hug. “I know. Sorry, Kat. I just worry about you,”

You nodded and hugged him back.“I know. I don’t mean to worry you.I really _am_ ok,” you reassured him.

The lie felt hollow in your own mouth. 

And no wonder Loki wrinkled his nose at lies. They smelled terrible.


	2. Chapter 2

You spent that evening alone in your apartment. You loved having a whole place of your own. It was quiet and peaceful there.Your rooms back at the compound were great, but this space was yours and you could decorate it and live as you wanted. So you did your homework curled up on your couch with the TV on in the background. No matter what Tony said about you isolating yourself, you were an introvert and enjoyed solitude, especially with how busy your life was most of the time. It was nice to have a quiet evening to yourself for once.

You returned to the compound when the Avengers movie began filming. When you arrived, you were greeted enthusiastically by Tom and Kelly, the actors who played Loki and his wife Sigyn in the films. Tom looked exactly like Loki when he was in his wig and costume for the movie, and you were a dead ringer for Kelly in her costume. This had led to some fun in the past pretending to be the actors. You gave them both hugs when you saw them. It had been a long time since you’d seen them last.Since they were filming the last Avengers movie.

“Loki’s not here today?” Kelly asked gently, grasping the issue. 

You shook your head, trying to hide the sorrow from your eyes.Of course they would ask about Loki.Hel, Tom played Loki in the movies.“He had to go back home for a little while,” you told them with a smile. You had gotten quite good at this line. It was true, just didn’t encompass the entire truth.

“Do you need a cup of tea, love?” Tom asked with his usual warmth and caring. You smiled at him. Somehow he always had the capacity to make any situation better. And it was adorable that he was the most British man to ever British, and he was a sweetheart.

“I’ll gladly have a cup of tea with you. They won’t mind?” you indicated the film crew. Tom held a finger to his lips with a mischievous glint in his eyes. The glint in his eyes was so familiar and missing from your life that your heart felt a pang, but you weren’t going to mourn Loki’s absence, not now.

“We just won’t tell them,” he replied with a familiar smirk.

You gave him a smile in return. “Are you coming too?” you asked Kelly.

She shook her head. “I’ll distract them. You two have fun,” she replied.

You smiled and offered Tom your hand.“Shall we?” you asked. He took your hand with a confused look on his face and you teleported the pair of you to a local coffee shop. You grinned at his shock and awe when you reappeared. He hadn’t travelled by magic before.You giggled at him and stepped up to the counter to place your orders. He was still gaping around you in awe.

“How?” he managed to get out. You took seats at one of the tables and soon had your tea.

“I can teleport, remember?” you reminded him, still amused at his shock. “I figured it was faster and easier to make our escape that way,” He laughed and nodded his head and you sipped on your tea. You chatted about small things, until people started realizing who you were. You wasn’t surprised when you had teleported there.Also you were Tony Stark’s niece, a famous Avenger in your own right, and with Tom Hiddleston.

“Kat, is this your new boyfriend?” An annoying reporter asked once the piranhas started circling.

“No,” you replied simply, giving her a well-practiced camera smile. “Tom is in town for the filming of the new Avengers movie,” you added, drawing their attention back to the actor. He gave them a short interview about reprising his role as Loki. You left soon after that, though you did warn the reporter in a quiet tone that the Avengers would quite upset with her and the news company if this story got reported incorrectly. She gulped, but nodded. You weren’t taking chances with false reports about your love life. You also didn’t want Tom to get caught up in it. He was too nice to have to deal with such drama.

You teleported you and Tom back to the compound where you were promptly chewed out for stealing Tom when he was supposed to be working. You both just laughed and swore not to do it again. No one believed you for some reason.

The film crew wanted to take pictures of the soulbond marks on your arm. You let them and swore to them that Loki’s were identical. You even pulled up a picture on your phone that you had taken of them to prove it to them. You texted the picture to the producer. He also wanted to take pictures of the scar on your leg. They hadn’t noticed that it had appeared in the final cut of the last movie, when they had used a scene that you and Loki had acted out instead of the one Tom and Kelly did. Now they had to keep the scar in for continuity’s sake. You let them take their pictures and spent the rest of the day hanging out with the cast and crew. They were hilarious as usual and the blooper reel was going to great this time. Especially when you got swept up into the fun and action.

At one point, you had managed to steal a bunch of props and was holding them all, wearing an identical costume to Kelly’s for the next scene. The crew took tons of pictures and film while the cast chased you in costume, trying to get their props back for the next scene.

You all ended up laughing about it for a long while and you got to contentedly sit on the sidelines, not causing any more mischief for a little while so they could actually get some work done.

You received a text once filming had completed for the day. It just read ‘Assemble’. You grinned and looked for Tom, assuming he was the culprit. He gave you Loki’s Cheshire Cat grin. All of the cast was sneaking off in costume. You followed and everyone ended up at a nearby restaurant. They all looked like they had just survived the final battle of the movie. You laughed and joked and had so much fun eating in costume that you didn’t notice at first that the film crew had found you and were filming your dinner.

After dinner, you went back to the compound and spent the rest of the evening with your superhero family. You sat around the TV in the commonroom watching Superhero Musical and singing along. It was a time honored tradition. You even got Tony to sing with you. He always avoided those kind of things, but he would do almost anything for you.

You spent that night in your suite in the compound. You hadn’t stayed there since school started, but it was just the way you left it. You took in the familiar sight of all of your bookshelves and finally felt like you were home.


	3. Chapter 3

The next month was pure and total chaos.You spent every moment bouncing between class, healings, and near constant patrols. You weren’t usually called on a lot of patrols, they preferred to use your abilities for healing, since you were the strongest healer in the city. You not only had your own healing powers, but also healing powers that you had acquired from Loki through the soulbond. Unfortunately, the city’s villains had all decided to start attacking at the same time, including some new moron who set fires everywhere. Which is why you got called on more patrols than ever. One of your powers was pyrokinesis, plus you could heal burns.It made you indispensable. 

You were also taking an insane amount of classes.You’d signed up for so many since most of the time you weren’t out on patrol and could keep up. You were drowning in homework during that month too, since it was getting too close to the end of the term.

The only sleep you got one week was an hour long nap after two days straight of healings after a particularly nasty battle between the Avengers and Firezone and Organa who had teamed up against you. You passed out on a couch in the infirmary after the healings. You had only meant to sit down for a minute, but that minute turned into an hour. There were deep bags under your eyes and you were running off of stubbornness and caffeine.

No one seemed to notice your state deteriorating over that month. Everyone was so stressed and they were so desperate for your healing abilities. They had gotten too reliant on your abilities, and you were too bad at saying no when you were still physically capable of helping. Fury did catch you one day and told you to get some sleep, but it was half-hearted at best. You were too needed. Tony only hadn’t yelled yet because you’d barely seen him. He was on near round the clock patrols as well and running off of caffeine too.

You cursed one morning when you realized that your favorite jeans were too big. You fixed them with magic and tried to remember the last time you’d eaten more than a granola bar for a meal. You couldn’t think of when it was. You cursed again and swore that you were eating your weight in pancakes the second this crisis was over.

On the day that would have been your and Loki’s second anniversary, you told Fury and all of the supers firmly that you were taking that day off and refused to be on-call. Fury complained, but you had worked yourself to death over the last month, he could only complain for so long. You still had classes that day, but after that, you had firm plans to mourn Loki’s absence. You had been strong all year. You could mourn on your anniversary.It was only fair.

So you curled yourself on your couch with a pint of ice cream. You were crying while watching stupid sappy romance movies when your work phone went off. You glared at it and only answered because it was Tony. “Uncle Tony, it’s my night off. I’m not even on call tonight,” you greeted him, not even attempting to hide the fact that you had been crying from your voice.

“I know, Kat. This is the first normal thing you’ve done since he left. If it were up to me, I’d let you have your night of crying into your ice cream and wallowing. It’s what you should’ve done ages ago. But this is an emergency,” Tony told you. You heard in his tone that he hated calling you and asking you this. 

You sighed. If it had been anyone besides Tony you would have just hung up on them by now. “It’s an actual emergency, not a ‘this is faster if we have Kat do it’ emergency?” you demanded grumpily.You wanted to get back to your wallowing and misery.

“It’s a real emergency, imp. I swear I wouldn’t have called you otherwise,” Tony replied.

You sighed and got to your feet. “The infirmary?” you asked. That was usually where you were called to for emergencies.

“No. We need you in Metropolis park. Street clothes, not your uniform. I’ll meet you at the entrance,”

“Fine. Only for you Uncle Tony,” you replied and hung up. You used magic to change your clothes to your normal jeans, a t-shirt and your converse. You didn’t bother cleaning your face or doing anything with your hair besides tying it up. You wanted this to be over as quickly as possible.

You made sure your phone was in your pocket and your enchanted dagger sheath was securely in place before teleporting to the entrance to Metropolis park. Tony was waiting for you right where he said he’d be. “What’s the emergency?” you asked him without preamble. You really just wanted to go back to your apartment and get back to your ice cream and sad movies.

“It’s in the middle of the park. Follow the main path. I’m keeping guard out here,” he told you easily.He trusted you to take care of yourself.

However, you glared at him. That wasn’t what you asked. “You owe me,” you grumbled at him. He knew damn well that you only came tonight because he was the one who called.

“I know. Now hurry up. They need your help,” he replied and gestured into the park. You nodded and took the path through the park, wondering what on Earth this emergency could be. You didn’t see or hear anything as you walked, no sounds of fighting.You were going to kill Tony if this wasn’t an actual emergency.

You stopped dead in your tracks when you got to the middle of the park. You couldn’t believe your eyes. There was a solitary figure waiting for you in the open area in the middle of the park. A slim figure with raven hair, dressed in a perfectly tailored all black suit. “Loki?” you asked, not quite daring to believe it.

But it was.

It was him.

He was really there.

He opened his arms to you and you ran the rest of the way to him. “Loki! You’re back!” you threw yourself into his arms, wrapping your arms around his neck too tightly as he laughed and swung you around.

“I’m home, my darling,” he told you softly, gently, holding you tightly against him while you held him with the desperation of believe that if your grip loosened, he would disappear from your life and world again.


	4. Chapter 4

You stepped just far enough out of his arms to allow you to stand up on your toes to kiss him. You kissed him deeply and kissed him well.And an insanely long time. You had missed Loki with a desperation that couldn’t be put into words and you couldn’t quite believe that he was finally home.

You ran your fingers through his hair and felt him wince when your hand brushed his cheek. You broke the kiss and took a proper step back. The illusion on his face had vanished when you touched it and you saw he had a huge bruise and black eye. “Loki,” you said softly as you reached up a glowing hand to heal it. “What happened?” you asked gently.

“Your uncle is displeased that I left you,” Loki replied dryly.He sounded exasperated with the expected result of getting punched in the face.

“Do you blame him?” you replied. You weren’t surprised Tony had punched him in the face, though of course you wished he hadn’t.

Loki shook his head. “I do not. So I let him get his punch in. It made him feel better and I could take the hit,” he replied with a shrug. You saw his eyes assessing you while you healed him and knew he wouldn’t like what he saw. You removed your hand from his face when the black eye was healed, but you still held onto his hand, like he would vanish again if you weren’t holding onto him somehow, someway.

“You were gone for a whole year,” you told him with tears in your eyes.It was hard to believe he was back.He’d been gone so long.

“I know, darling, and I am truly sorry for it, but there was no choice. My people needed me,” he told you softly. He pulled you back into his arms, holding you tightly to his cool body. “I thought you would be safe here. You’re nothing more than skin and bones. What happened while I was gone?” he asked, concern in his voice.

“Why did you leave?” you countered defensively.You weren’t going to spill your secrets until you got some answers from him.

“I will tell you everything, once I am sure you are ok,” Loki promised.He paused before he added. “I always think you are the most ravishing creature I have ever laid eyes on, but right now you look dead on your feet,” he told you.His voice had moved beyond concerned to flat-out worried.

“Ahem,” you heard a voice from path you had taken to reach the middle of the park. You whirled, drawing a dagger in one hand and summoning a fireball in the other in one fluid practiced movement.

“Just me, Kat,” Tony announced.

You vanished both your dagger and the fireball. “Did you have to punch him in the face, Uncle Tony?” you demanded, upset that Loki had been hurt.He had reasons for having to go to Asgard and leave you alone. Whatever those were.

“Yes.” Tony replied curtly. You rolled your eyes. Stupid overprotective uncle. Or surrogate father, based on how he treated you.“By the way, you’re taking the next two days off. You’re not on call either. Fury and I finally got all of your work logs. Good job hiding them from us by the way, imp. If I ever catch them overworking you like that again, I will kill every single healer in the compound,” Tony snarled.

You blushed and refused to look at him.You’d been working an insane amount of hours and no one really seemed to notice.Or care because they were too busy to care beyond the immediate need.“That won’t get me less overworked,” you reminded Tony sourly.

“It will when I ground you and make you rest. And eat.” he replied. You glared up at him.You weren’t a little kid. “She’s been working a month straight, with what, five whole hours of sleep the entire month? And when was the last time you ate a real meal?” Tony demanded.

“The night Helene made meatloaf,” you answered softly, refusing to look at either of them.

Tony growled. “That was two weeks ago!” he roared. “I am going to kill Fury and those healers for not keeping an eye on you. It’s their job to make sure you’re not worked to death. They all know how healers are. You won’t stop until someone stops you or all the healings are done.” he growled, frustrated at you, himself, Fury, and the healers.

“Tony, do we have to talk about this now?” you asked him softly.

He gave you a look. “Now was the best time. Even with how pissed I am at your boyfriend for abandoning you for a year.If he knows what you’ve been through these months, he’ll take my side, and he is _way_ more equipped to make sure you rest and eat than I am. Plus, you might actually listen to him,” Tony told you too logically.He had you trapped in a corner and he knew it. 

“That is accurate,” Loki replied. You groaned. Stupid boys teaming up on you. You raised your hands in surrender.

“Fine, I give. But Uncle Tony, you _know_ how crazy it was last month. You had almost as much work as you did,” you reminded him.

“Yes, but I wasn’t trying to do a crazily accelerated PhD program at the same time,” he reminded you, still too logically. Damn he had you trapped well.“You’re not winning this round, imp,” you sighed. He was right, but you couldn’t say no when people needed your help. He came over and gave you a hug. “I worry about you,” he told you.You heard the click of metal and shoved him away when you felt the hard metal ring around your wrist.

“Uncle Tony!” you shrieked. You reached for the bangle that bound your powers and tried to take it off, but it was locked. “Uncle Tony! Take this off, now!” you yelled again, though you sounded more like a scared little girl than the most powerful super in the city.

“Take care of her,” Tony told Loki. “You have a week,”

“You said two days!” you protested indignantly. You had work to do and surely there would be people who needed healed in a week’s time.

“It was two days, or my judgment based on how you looked after all those hours you logged. Fury is pissed, by the way, with all of those hours. My judgment is at least a week and I need to make sure you can’t get called in to help,” Tony replied. He didn’t seem sorry at all. “I have to get back and report to Fury. Don’t you do anything stupid.” He told Loki, poking him in the chest threateningly. Tony had almost liked Loki before he had disappeared last year. It looked like he was back to hating Loki. You couldn’t honestly say you were surprised. Tony left, letting Loki deal with your bad mood.

Cheater.

Though he probably felt Loki deserved it.

“Come, darling. Let me take you out for dinner and I can tell you about the trouble on Asgard,” Loki offered you his hand. You sighed, but you knew that was the best offer you were going to get. You placed your hand in his and the familiar green glow of his magic flew over you. You were back in the green dress he had made for you last year, with your hair done and coiled perfectly down your back. He frowned when he had to use more magic to take in the dress and make it fit properly again. You blushed and looked away from him sheepishly, wisely choosing not to comment.

He teleported you to the fanciest restaurant in town. The same one you had your anniversary dinner at the previous year. It was his favorite restaurant to take you to, so you weren’t surprised at all that he had chosen it. Between your fame and his silver tongue you got in and seated immediately. You even got the chef’s table again, which while being in the kitchen, actually gave you a good place to talk without being overheard.

“So, what happened in Asgard?” you asked him once your orders were placed.You weren’t letting him get away with not telling you what happened while he was gone. 

He’d been gone a year.

You deserved that much.


	5. Chapter 5

Loki sighed and hesitated before he spoke. “This is not a fun tale, darling,” he started, pain in his voice. You nodded, expecting as much. Loki wouldn’t have been gone for a year otherwise.You reached across the table and took his hand in yours, offering him what comfort you could for him to tell you the painful tale.you held his hand across the table. He gave you a small smile, more of thanking you for your reassurance than an actual smile. He rubbed his thumb over your hand, over the ring he had given you that you had never taken off.You could tell that he was reassuring himself that you were here as much as reassuring you.

“I know,” you told him gently when he paused in his words.“And I know it must’ve been major for you to leave like that, but I need to know. I need to know why you left for a year. Why you took all evidence of the portal spell with you. Why you didn’t call or visit, or send a message that you were ok. I only knew you were even still alive because _I_ was still alive,” you told him with more emotion in your voice than you had intended. You had intended to be calm about this discussion. You knew there had to be a good reason why Loki had left, but it had hurt so much. It had hurt so very, very much.

Loki took a breath, another, as he gathered his words.He nodded when he was ready to speak.“Asgard was attacked,” he started simply, though the words themselves were horrifying.“There were rogues with allies from one of the lesser realms, who wanted to free Balder. They thought he should be the next ruler and they tried to assassinate the rest of our family,” Loki told you.His voice was heavy and he fought to get the words out. His eyes were dull, vacant, as he spoke. He was staring past you, remembering something he had seen, not really seeing you. “They were put down, but not before...not before Torun...” his eyes filled with tears at the memory.

“Torun?” you asked, horrified. She was just a toddler, the daughter of Thor and Sif, Loki’s older brother and sister-in-law.Balder was the eldest, but hadn’t been chosen as heir to the throne.That lead to all of the strife, but to hurt Torun…

Loki nodded, a couple of tears falling as he squeezed your hand. “Torun had found out her uncle Balder was down in the dungeon. She didn’t understand that the dungeon was jail. She was just a baby,” he paused to compose himself.“She had taken a bunch of toys down to the dungeon so they could play with him. The assassins killed her. They slaughtered that poor baby just because she was before Balder in the line to the throne.” You stood then and went to Loki to wrap your arms around him.

“I’m so sorry, Loki,” you told him softly, not caring that the kitchen staff was watching you. You barely noticed that you were crying too. Torun was such a sweet baby. You couldn’t fathom that she was gone.

“Balder is gone. They broke him out while all of the guards were distracted protecting our family. Mother called me home after the attack. The people needed to see that the royal family was united and strong, even when we were not. They needed to see that the line of succession was still intact. Thor and Sif also needed to be given the traditional year of grieving away from the spotlight of their duties as heirs to the throne. I had to remain and act as Heir until Thor was able to take up his responsibilities again.” You just held on to Loki while he spoke. What happened was terrible and you didn’t have any words to comfort him with. No words would be good enough. “I could not bring you with me. I would not risk your safety after an assassination attempt and I could not drag you away from your life for a year or longer. I knew if you left any trace of the portal spell, you would come after me and stay, forsaking your own dreams in the process. It took months to settle the country enough that it would have even been safe, and by then... I was afraid that you would have moved on with your life. I would not have blamed you. I’m sorry I could not return before now,” he finally told you, though it pained him. “I know those words are not enough, but someday, I hope I will be able to make it up to you,”

“Can we go visit soon?” you asked him as you finally let him go when he seemed stable again. You still held his hand across the table after you had taken your seat again. “I would like to pay my respects,”

He nodded, looking relieved that that had been your reaction and response.You hadn’t changed as much as he feared. “We will visit soon,” he promised. “Once you are up to it. If I take you there in this shape, Mother will have both of our hides,” he added with a bit of his usual teasing and friendship.

“How’s Thor doing? And Sif?”

“They are devastated and they mourn. That will not end soon. Though Sif announced right before you returned that she is with child.” Loki gave a small smile at that.She and Thor had been trying for a second child.Apparently, they had succeeded.

“So you can stay?” you asked him, adding some excitement to your voice, trying to lighten the mood.You wanted desperately for him to stay on Midgard with you.You didn’t want to lose him again.

“I can stay. Though Mother did request that we visit more often,” he replied with an all too familiar glint in his eyes. You gave him a smile. You were all hurting right now, but you’d be ok. Thor and Sif would be ok too, though they would always mourn their loss.

“They didn’t ask where I was?”

“I told them I left you here for your safety,” he replied. You rolled your eyes, but that’s exactly what they would have expected him to do. “Had I known how poorly you were looked after...”

“I’m fine, Loki,” you replied sourly. He just gave you a look. You sighed, easily defeated on that particular point.. “Really, I’m fine,”

“Sure you are, darling,” he replied, with disbelief in his voice. It was quite rude of him not to believe you.Luckily for him, he was saved from your tart reply by your dinners arriving. “So what have you been doing, besides working yourself to death?” he asked as you were eating.

“Let’s see... I graduated from high school, top of the class. I’ve started a really ambitions extremely accelerated PhD program at Metropolis University. Thanks for that by the way, since it’s purely because of the knowledge I stole from you through the soulbond that I can do this program,” you touched the lines of power that ran up his left arm and he smiled. They were identical to the marks on your own left arm. “I should graduate in a year or so. I told Fury that I wouldn’t work for the Avengers full time until I’d earned my PhD and gotten to be a real doctor. That’s what I’d always thought I’d be when I didn’t have powers. I didn’t want to give that up just because I finally got my powers,” you explained. He nodded, of course he remembered your conversation about your future from before you had gotten your powers.

“So you have done nothing but work?” he asked, disapproving.

You shrugged. “Pretty much. I did spend some time with the actors when they came to shoot the next Avengers movie, but most of my life is boring right now, school, work in the infirmary, patrol. I wasn’t going to be Bella Swan and just waste away in depression because my boyfriend left. I needed to do something with my life.” You pulled up a picture on your phone to show him, though. It was of you carrying all of the actors’ weapon props as they chased you around the set. You showed it to him and he started laughing. “I did have _some_ fun,” you told him as you laughed too.

“My apologies, lady. It seems I was mistaken,” he replied still laughing as you pulled up more pictures from that day to show him.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I don’t live in the compound anymore. I mean, I still have your suite there, but I live in an apartment near campus.” That would be important information when he went to take you home later.

A huge dessert appeared in front of you after you’d finished your meals, catching up the entire time.Your eyes lit up at the delicious chocolaty creation. You and Loki devoured the entire thing like small children left alone with an entire cake. Which was, in retrospect, a fairly accurate description of the two of you at times.

Loki escorted you from the restaurant once you had finished eating and stopped right outside. “So, are we returning to the compound or your apartment?” he asked when he stopped.

“My apartment,” you replied. You gave him the address and somehow that was enough information for him to teleport you there. You thought it was impressive since he’d never been there, or really on this end of town very often.

“Darling, when was the last time you slept?” he asked when you were alone. You were so full of food that you were leaning too much on him, halfway to a food coma. It was getting harder to stay awake through stubbornness and caffeine when there wasn’t an emergency every few seconds.

“I slept Wednesday,” you told him sleepily, wrapping your arms around his slim waist.

“And how long did you sleep on Wednesday?” he asked gently as he ran his fingers through your hair.

You shrugged, not moving your head from his chest. “A couple hours?”

“Love, it’s Tuesday now. That is nearly a week. Even I cannot go that long without sleep. Come on, off to bed with you,” he swept you up into his arms. Another flash of his magic and you were in your pajamas. He was soon trying to tuck you into bed.

You would grudgingly admit to being difficult.

Grudgingly.

“I can’t sleep,” you protested, though exhaustion fogged your brain and you were _sure_ it made your words _really _easy to understand.Or completely unintelligible.

“Yes, you can darling. No one will be calling you for an emergency. There are no responsibilities right now except to rest. You are taking a break,” he reminded you, overly patient as usual when you were being stubborn.

“If I sleep then this really will all be a dream and it’ll be tomorrow and you’ll be gone,” you told him quite logically. Or at least your sleep deprived brain thought it was logical. You didn’t want this to be a dream.You didn’t want Loki to be gone when you woke.

“What if I lie in the bed beside you? Then will you believe that this is not a dream?” he asked gently, acknowledging your fear. He was trying to fight against your sleep deprived logic. It didn’t resemble normal human logic, though, so he was at a severe disadvantage. You thought about that, but finally nodded. If you could hold on to him then he wouldn’t disappear and be a dream. He magicked himself some pajamas and climbed into the other side of the bed. You curled up against him, laying your head on his cool chest and falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat. A sound you had grown too accustomed to hearing in the year you had been dating, and a sound you had missed too desperately in the year he had been away.


	6. Chapter 6

You woke later than you should have the next morning, much later than you should have. Silly Trickster boyfriend must have turned off your alarm. Silly Trickster boyfriend? That wasn’t right.Your eyes snapped open and you saw that you were still curled next to Loki, your head on his bare chest as a pillow. You smiled and relaxed again for a moment until you remembered that it was Thursday and you had class. You glanced at your clock and cursed softly. You had 10 minutes to get to class. On the other side of campus. You cursed again softly, not wanting to wake Loki. He looked so peaceful, plus he would tell you not to go to class. You swung your legs over the edge of the bed and was halfway out of it when Loki grabbed you by the back of the shirt and hauled you back into the bed.

“Loki, I have to go to class,” you told him, exasperated. Silly distracting Trickster boyfriend.

“No, you do not,” he replied sleepily and pulled you back to his side like a stuffed animal.It was really hard to resist him when he was so freakishly strong. 

“Yes, I do. I’m going to be late,” you told him, shoving against him. You could break free from him easily if you wanted to, despite his strength, he’d never hold you truly against your will. He was a gentleman for one and you’d been raped for another.But mostly he was a gentleman.

He finally opened his eyes and looked at you, though you saw that he was barely awake. You had seen him like this enough times after he woke from nightmares that you recognized how barely awake he was.“You have the day off. I took the liberty of informing your professors that you are ill and cannot attend class today. They bid you to feel better and they will see you upon your return.” He was still elegant in his words, even half awake.

“How?” you demanded.There shouldn’t have been any way for him to contact your professors. 

“Sigyn-zero-four-zero-one,” he mumbled, half asleep, his eyes had closed again.

You felt yourself turn red. That was your password for everything, your computer, email, phone, everything. “I’ll be changing that later,” you grumbled at him. Your superhero alias and his birthday was admittedly not to strongest password ever. It worked for everyone except him.

“Now, will you kindly accept your day off? The sun is not even awake yet, so we should not be either,” he grumbled. You shouldn’t have let him watch Frozen.

“Fine, silly Trickster.” you grumbled, but didn’t mean it. Instead, you got to curl up with him for another hour, until the sun finally did come up. “Can we get pancakes now?” you asked him once the sun was up.

He sighed and looked at you in loving exasperation. “Very well,” he sighed, acting put-upon. You knew he didn’t mean it, though. You kissed him and hopped out of bed. You had gotten so used to not having any sleep and constant emergencies that a good night’s sleep made you annoyingly awake. At least until your brain and body realized there was no emergency and you crashed again. You checked your phone first thing after you got up. It was too ingrained of a habit. “And we have something fun to go do,”

“What adventure have you found?” he asked with a grin as he sat up. He was always up for mischief and adventures.

“Tom and Kelly are in town filming the new Avengers movie. They want us to stop by the filming. They specifically asked if you were back,” you told him. He nodded with the mischievous glint in his eyes that you’d missed so dearly.

“Then we will go see them after we find pancakes,” he agreed. He got out of bed and with a flash of magic was dressed in jeans and a button down shirt and a nice sweater over it. You saw the glint of the chain his pocket watch was on and smiled. You had given him the watch last year on your anniversary. Loki was still trying to grasp the concept of casual clothes. It was a work in progress, but he always looked nice, which you appreciated.

You reached for your own magic to do the same, but it just fizzled away before you could grasp it and use it. You then remembered the stupid bangle on your wrist and cursed. “I am going to kill my uncle,” you snarled.

Loki dared to laugh at your misfortune, which just led to you glaring at him. He held his hands up in surrender. “I am laughing at your soon to be very dead uncle, not you my dear. Please recall he did recently decide that punching me in the face was an excellent idea. I am not going to stop you from your revenge. Even if I do agree with him that you need to rest and that you were not going to otherwise.”

You couldn’t argue with him. You really sucked at taking time off. People kept needing your help. “Mind taking this off?” you asked, holding up your wrist.

Loki shook his head with an apologetic look. “I cannot,” he replied and you couldn’t quite tell from his innocent tone if he was lying or not. You were losing your touch at reading him or he was getting better at lying.He was the god of lies after all.

You stomped over to your closet to look for something to wear. A perfect blue sweater dress appeared in your closet a moment later. You looked over at Loki who was feigning innocence by playing on his phone. You grinned at him and pulled the dress from your closet. You gave him another look. “If you’re not going to help, you can’t stay here while I change,” you told him firmly. Yes, you were dating, yes, by his culture’s standards you were married, no, he couldn’t see you naked. He was gone the last year and you had been raped previously. He still had to earn that privilege.

He offered you a hand. “If those are my two options, I would rather help,” he replied with a smirk. You went to him with a smile and took his hand. His smile faltered when your hand was in his. “Let me do something first?” He asked you softly, gently. He was asking you to trust him, to trust his magic and trust that he wouldn’t hurt him. You’d gotten such requests from him before. You hesitated a moment, unsure what he was doing, but finally nodded. “Forgive me, darling, but there is something I must see first. Then I promise to help properly,” he told you gnetly.you looked at him confused. His magic flew over you and you were wearing a slip, a short, thankfully opaque, slip, but it still was barely clothes and definitely not ‘out’ clothes. You saw his appraising look and saw the pain in his eyes.

“Loki!” you yelled at him, taking a step back, uncomfortable, and feeling betrayed, though he had asked, and you were still clothed. You looked up at him with tears in your eyes. He looked horrified at what state you were in and gripped your hand tighter before you could run.His magic flashed again, and you were in the comfortable elegantly adorable blue sweater dress with your hair perfectly coiled down your back.

He pulled you in to a hug, holding you tightly to him. “I’m sorry, darling. I promise to never do that again. I swear it on the soulbond,” he reassured you quickly.That was an oath he couldn’t break. “I had to see, had to know, what my absence has cost you.” His words and tone were sad as he saw your body and saw how you’d been abused for your powers.

You finally got control of your emotions and nodded, though you were tempted to punch him in the face. “At least warn me better next time,” you grumbled at him.He wasn’t entirely forgiven for that stunt.

He kissed the top of your head. “I promise,” his voice was soft, but you could still hear the pain in it.

“Loki, I’m fine,” you tried to reassure him.“This was just a rough month,” you reminded him, stepping out of his arms.

“This is not merely a month’s worth of neglect,” he gestured to your too thin body.

You looked away from him. You did work too hard, but you’d been doing ok until last month, or at least you thought you had. You sighed. “You might be right,” you finally admitted.

“I’m sorry you had to leave you,” he told you, wrapping you back in his arms.

“Your people needed you,” you replied, your voice soft. You knew now why he had left, but it had still hurt.

“I know. I know the decision had to be made. I just hate what my decision cost you,”

You rolled your eyes, despite that he couldn’t see you at the moment. “If I tell you that I’m fine again will you believe you this time?” you asked, just this side of grumpy.You were quickly approaching the line into proper grumpiness.

“Maybe after you get to spoil you for awhile,” he replied with a smile in his voice. You let him have his delusions that he was going to spoil you. “Now, shall we find those pancakes?” he asked, distracting you with food.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” you replied, grinning up at him. You found your purse buried under a pile of textbooks and subsequently your car keys. You hadn’t driven anywhere in months. You spent so much time teleporting all over town that you hadn’t needed to actually drive. You held up the keys triumphantly. “Voila!” you announced.

He laughed when he realized why it had taken you so long to find them.“You have gotten used to teleporting,” he commented with a grin, proud of you for getting the hang of it. 

You laughed and were grateful to find yourself back on familiar ground. “It’s just so useful,” you replied. It really was more useful than the slower methods of transportation.It also didn’t take much magic once you got the hang of it.

“That it is, darling, but today-” he swiped your car keys from your hand. You stuck your tongue out at him, but didn’t complain. “-we at least attempt to be human,”

“If we were to attempt that I’d have to hide my hair, and this,” you raised your hand so he could see the gold, blue, green, and black lines of power that ran up your left hand halfway up your arm in gorgeous spirals. His left arm had identical marks. They had appeared when he had bound your souls together to save your life.

“We can at least attempt to be human celebrities, then,” he chuckled.

You agreed with that and you finally headed out to go find your pancakes.“The pancake house has all you can eat pancakes,” you told him with a wicked grin. “Want to scare the humans with how many pancakes we can devour?” you asked with a mischievous glint in your own eye. Your mischief was usually child-like and fun, rarely hurting anyone.

“Sounds perfect,” he replied. You led him to where you had parked your car and you headed out your way. You prayed that you wouldn’t be seen by the paparazzi. You really didn’t need your professors finding out you skipped class to eat pancakes and hang out with actors. That wouldn’t go over very well.

Not very well at all.


	7. Chapter 7

You both terrified the nice waitresses and managers at the pancake house. You hadn’t _meant_ to, of course, but they were already suspicious when the well-dressed skinny young couple came in and ordered the unlimited pancakes. Supers have stupidly high metabolisms, Loki wasn’t human (you weren’t entirely sure you were anymore either), and the last real meal you’d had, besides last night, was two weeks ago. Those pancakes were doomed. The staff became even more suspicious after our third reorder of pancakes. By our fifth reorder of pancakes, the chef himself came out to see who was eating all of his pancakes. He glared at you both. You figured he recognized you and had a feeling that supers weren’t going to be allowed to have unlimited pancakes anymore as soon as he could get it past corporate.

“Tom, Kelly, are you in town to film the new Avengers movie?” one of the paparazzi asked while you were inhaling pancakes. It was really quite rude of them, you were busy scaring the poor staff of the pancake house. You didn’t want to deal with the press, but they always followed you around.

You grinned at them, though, amused they’d gotten you mistaken for the actors. “Sorry, wrong celebrities,” you told them with a too-innocent smile.Loki tried to hide his smirk and failed.Miserably.

“Wait? What? You’re-?” she spluttered, surprised that you weren’t Tom and Kelly.

“Not Tom and Kelly,” you replied still too innocently.innocently. She tried to get an interview from you instead, but she had ruined her chance by not knowing who she was talking to. She finally left you alone, looking defeated.

You and Loki enjoyed your breakfast; you spent most of the meal telling him stories about your super friends. You had gotten some new recruits, who had the misfortune of training with you whenever Fury could get you to act as ‘helpless victim’ during training sessions. You’d had too much fun over the years messing up their plans that you had gotten quite good at it. Now the new kids all saw you as Sigyn, a role model in the super community and one of the strongest, if not _the_ strongest super in the city. They didn’t expect you to mess with their carefully made plans during training sessions. They all got incredibly flustered when you jumped in to help them, or sat on the ground crying and tripping everyone, or all sorts of other things that just messed with their plans. It was one of their important lessons when they started their training, that victims would never do what you expect them to. you did the role so well, that Fury always got you to do the training class whenever he could.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, but don’t you dare tell Uncle Tony I told,” you started. Loki perked up, extremely interested in a story that he couldn’t tell Tony. “Tony finally proposed to Pepper,” you told him with a grin. “They’re trying to keep it secret, but they suck at it. The entire compound knows, but somehow they haven’t figured it out that we all know,”

“Which one is Pepper, again?” he asked, he had spent as little time with Tony as possible, so of course he hadn’t met Pepper except in passing.

“She’s the extremely formidable woman who runs Tony’s company.She isn’t around the tower often,” Loki roared in laughter, once he could visualize the woman ordering Tony around.

“You can’t tell Uncle Tony!” you replied firmly, but you were laughing too. Those two were adorable and Tony was totally whipped by Pepper.Loki promised he wouldn’t tell...yet. You laughed harder, imagining how that was going to go when it happened. “Try to be nice, Lo. This is his first real relationship and we don’t want him to think we’re unsupportive,”

“Two questions,” he started. You grinned at him, but nodded. “Firstly, Lo? Where did Lo? come from?”

You looked away, Loki was weird about nicknames. “Sorry,” you murmured, assuming he was offended.

“There is no reason to be sorry, darling. It was just a question. I was simply surprised.” His voice was gentle and reassuring.

“Everyone else has nicknames...” you mumbled defensively.Loki deserved one as well.

He pressed on, leaving that subject for another time, probably when you were less defensive. You knew you was being a bit extra defensive right now, and it wasn’t entirely fair, but you were hindered by your lack of powers. You hated feeling helpless. “Secondly, what do you mean by unsupportive?”

“Uncle Tony is still known as a womanizer from his life before the Avengers.He’s afraid of going public with Pepper and thinks people will be mean to her, will claim she’s just another woman in a long line of forgetable faces,” you explained. “I don’t want Uncle Tony to feel that way when he finally gets up the courage to tell me.”

He thought about that, but nodded. “Earth is strange sometimes,” he finally replied. You could tell that he didn’t understand why people would be against someone loving someone else, or would dare say anything against Pepper. “But with that being the case, I promise to be nice when he tells us. After that he is fair game for teasing, just like everyone else,” he added with a grin.

“Naturally,” you replied dryly as Loki caught the waitress’ attention to order another round of pancakes. She looked visibly scared by that. You sighed and reached in to your purse. “Candice,” you told her, reading her name badge. “I promise we’re not trying to get you in to trouble. We’re just trying to have a nice breakfast. If we’re causing you or the chef trouble, I’m sorry. Look, here’s your tip in advance,” you told her and handed her a hundred dollar bill. It was going to be her tip regardless. you were rich and could afford to tip crazily. “Can you send the chef out to talk to us? We’ll explain it to him,” you added. The chef came out and was much happier with you once he had gotten your autographs and you gushed about how delicious his pancakes were. He also got a tip and promised you as many pancakes as you could eat anytime you came in. Once that was settled, you got back to your conversations about your friends.

Your breakfast date was going wonderfully until there was a giant crunching crash of metal outside the restaurant. You whirled instinctively to see what it was to find a huge car crash right outside the window. Both cars looked instantly totaled and one was on fire. You looked over at Loki, who had already shifted into his black and green battle armor. “Loki,” you said softly, holding out your wrist to him. You figured he had been lying earlier when he said he couldn’t remove it.

He hesitated, until you heard the child crying, screaming in pain and terror. “Do not tell your uncle,” he told you firmly. You nodded you agreement. He removed the bangle from your arm. You dropped a wad of cash on the table to cover your bill, vanished your purse, and shifted to your own battle armor in a moment. You ran from the pancake house to help. The crash was huge. Five cars were involved. Loki pointed to one. “The child is in that one,” he called. You nodded and rushed over. Of course it was the car that was on fire.

You grabbed the fire with your power and snuffed it almost immediately. Fire was yours to control. You tried to pull the car doors open, but they were locked. You cursed and used telekinesis to force them open, ripping them from the hinges. You got the child out first and was already healing him while you worked to get his mom out of the front of the car. She was somehow mostly uninjured. It took only a moment and a small bit of power to heal her. Her son... You set him on the ground so you could place both hands on him to heal him.

They were healed quickly.You handed the son to the woman and sent her in the direction of the pancake house. As you did, you noted the sound of sirens. Help was coming soon. “Sig!” Loki called. You looked over and saw the victim he was helping. The guy had been nearly decapitated. You ran over and slid to your knees, kneeling next to him. Loki had been dumping healing magic into the man, but he didn’t have enough, not for how fast this healing needed to be done. You placed both of your glowing hands on the poor man’s neck, telling him gently to be silent and calm. He didn’t listen, but it had been worth a try. You dumped healing magic into him and knit his throat back together as fast as you could.

“Is everyone else clear of the cars?” you asked Loki while you worked.

“I will check. Be safe,” he told you firmly and overprotectively. You nodded absently, focused on your work. You got the guy healed enough that he wasn’t bleeding, his muscles were knit back together. He could move. He would need more healing, but he’d live for now. You sent him on his way towards the pancake house, where all of the victims were gathering.

Loki had pulled all of the victims from the cars and everyone who was capable of moving was heading to the gathering spot. You went to him to help with those who were too injured to move. You were healing another child when one of the cars exploded behind you. You threw a shield up around the people you were healing, and incidentally, Loki, but healers are not great at self preservation and you realized too late that your shield didn’t actually cover you.It covered your charges instead.

You realized this as you were flying through the air from the explosion. Loki and Tony were both going to kill you.

Repeatedly.

You landed hard on the concrete in front of the pancake house and shakily got back to your feet, examining your injuries. Cut on your head. You were scraped up all to hell. Bruised if not broken ribs. You didn’t even want to think about the arm you had landed on.

Loki and Tony were _so_ going to kill you.

And still, you rushed back to the victims. You couldn’t heal myself, only others, so you threw all of your healing magic into healing the car crash victims. The police had finally arrived, so you had to finish this quickly. “Loki, drop your magic,” you told him. He did instantly, trusting your plans, trusting you. You were grateful for it, grateful for his trust.

You closed your eyes and raised your hands, concentrating. You let the healing power flow from you to all five of the gravely injured in front of you, plus Loki who had gotten cut by something while he was rescuing people. It took more magic to do it that way, but you weregrounded for the next week regardless, and these people needed help now. So you let the power flow, fixing bones, muscles, tissues, stopping bleeding. It only took a minute, but it was the longest minute you’d experienced in a long time. You needed Loki’s help to stand again when you had finished, drained from the power use. “Don’t tell Tony,” you told Loki as he got to work healing you before you had to go give police statements.

“Only if I am allowed yell at you myself for forgetting to include yourself in the shield,” Loki growled at you.Yep, he was pissed.

“That’s fair,” you replied easily. “At least I only get the lecture once that way,”

It took forever to give your statements and get everything settled with the cops. After that, you and Loki trudged your way back into the pancake house. You had intended to make sure everyone was ok in there. Instead, you were greeted with cheers from all of the waitstaff instead and thanks from the people you had helped. There were also fresh stacks of pancakes waiting on your table for you.

“Tony is going to kill us,” you told Loki a few minutes later when you had sat down to eat in a post battle stupor, still in costume and covered in battle grime and the minor cuts and scrapes that didn’t get healed by the quick battle healings.

“Why do you say that?” he asked with his mouth full of pancake, so very unlike him that you knew he was exhausted from the battle. You pointed to the TV on the wall. It was showing a news report of the crash. You and Loki were featured, rushing in to save the victims of the crash.

“Tony is going to kill us,” Loki agreed sourly.

“Well, he’s just going to have to wait until after I finish my pancakes,” you replied tiredly. You were getting really tired of constant emergencies and really hoped things would calm down soon. “We should go find out what Tom and Kelly want before Tony gets ahold of us,” you suggested after you had finished your pancakes and were walking back to your car, still in costume. Loki grinned at you and nodded.

“That does sound much more agreeable than a lecture from your uncle. But first,” he held out his hand. “Wrist,” he ordered gently. You glared at him, but he didn’t give in. “Darling, you have already stopped resting because it was absolutely necessary. Those people would have died, and I admit that I could not have saved them all on my own. But you have _got _to rest, love, preferably before you drop from exhaustion. You are not going to do that if the healers at the compound can call on you for help,” he reminded you firmly, despite his gentle tone.

You sighed. “I know. I just hate being helpless. It sucked the years I lived with them without powers. It’s even worse now that I’ve gotten used to being the strongest super among them.”

“I know, love. Believe me, I know. I’m sorry you have had to face all of this alone. I’m sorry that they took advantage of your kindness so badly. I’m here for you now. Please, trust me to take care of you so you can heal yourself. Please, my darling, please let me help you,” his voice was too close to begging. You heard the pleading and desperation in his voice.

“If anything bad happens, I am going to be quite cross with you,” you finally told him, stealing one of his lines as you held out your wrist for him. That earned you a tiny smile.

He fastened the bangle back around your wrist. “I would expect nothing less.” He leaned down and kissed you gently.


	8. Chapter 8

“So, darling, would you care to explain how you forgot to shield yourself when you shielded everyone else?” Loki asked you dryly as he drove you to the tower compound where the Avengers lived.“As I recall, that was the first thing I taught you after you acquired my powers through the soulbond.” Loki wasn’t pleased with you for forgetting that absolute basic of magic.

“It’s Uncle Tony’s fault-” you started, but hesitated, not wanting to throw Tony completely under the bus. 

“Excellent,” Loki replied with a smirk.“I could use an excuse to punch him in the face. It is so much more satisfactory when there is a valid reason behind the punch,” Loki added wistfully. He wouldn’t actually punch Tony without a damn good reason.And it had to be a reason that you would agree to.

You couldn’t help laughing. “You can’t rough him up too badly or Pepper will kill you,” you reminded him. He laughed at that and acquiesced that Pepper would indeed kill him.A minute passed and he gave you a look, so you sighed and finally continued your story. “I’m not constantly assigned on patrols like most of the rest of the supers...until last month anyway. When I am, I’m always on Tony’s team. You know how Tony is. He only assigns me as support, shielding the others, dampening fires, and healing mostly. So I’ve gotten so used to shielding everyone else while Tony insists I stay away from the danger, that I got out of the habit of making the shields big enough to include me,” you explained. It was really annoying, especially when you were the strongest super on the team.

“Your uncle is an idiot,” Loki replied dryly.Tony had messed with your instincts and training until you put yourself in danger.

“Agreed,” you grumbled, twisting the stupid metal bangle around your wrist and imagining all of the fun ways you would destroy the damn thing the second you got it off again.You hated restraints, though you knew the tower kept a stock of them for villainous supers.

“See that you do not forget again to shield yourself first,” Loki grumbled at you.

“I won’t. I promise. One painful reminder is enough,” you added. Your ribs and arm were still sore and bruised. Battlefield healing was not thorough at all. It was only meant to make sure the combatants could keep fighting until the battle was over. You glared at the metal bangle on your wrist while Loki drove. “Why did I let you do this again?” you asked him grumpily. You really hated being weak or helpless.

“Because I asked nicely, unlike your idiot uncle. You are also intelligent enough to realize that your idiot uncle and I are correct in the assessment that you are about to drop from exhaustion and overwork. You are also smart enough to admit that the healers will guilt you into helping them when you should be resting, because they take advantage of your kindness,” he replied too logically. He was too flattering, but he was also right. You huffed and grumbled.You hated it, but he was right.

Why did he have to be right?

You soon pulled up to the residents’ parking at the compound and went to go find your actor friends. It wasn’t hard. They were all outside the tower, using the outside of the building for their filming. You were waved over and greeted with cheers when they crew saw you. You were amazed at how many people they had dressed as Loki and Sigyn. You spotted Tom in the crowd of Lokis and grabbed your Loki’s hand so you wouldn’t lose him before daring to aim that way.

“What’s going on?” you asked Tom once you were close enough to him. You saw Kelly nearby, surrounded by all of the Sigyns.

“We’re shooting a scene where we Loki is using illusions,” Tom explained, indicating all of the doubles.“I thought you two would have fun with us,” he added with a grin.Tom was too much like his character at times and had too much mischief about him. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Loki,” he addressed the god, polite as ever.

Loki bowed in reply. “Likewise,” he replied with a grin, excited for the bit of fun and mischief.

“How has the game of ‘which one’s Tom’ gone so far?” you asked. Tom always loved that game.

Tom laughed. “Wonderfully. This was a terrible idea on their part,”

“Kat! Why aren’t you answering your phone? Where are you? You’re supposed to be resting!” you heard a roaring yell that was unmistakable as Uncle Tony’s. You looked over at where the yelling was coming from. He was on his phone and obviously hadn’t spotted you yet. You were glad you had turned your phone’s ringer off.You made a mental note to delete that voice mail without listening to it. 

“Shit,” you cursed under your breath. “He’s going to find us.” You did _not_ want Tony finding you yet.

Loki just grinned mischievously. “Not in this crowd, he won’t,” he whispered in your ear. He used illusions so your outfits appeared to match the costumes of the others. “Go blend in with the others. We’ll hide in plain sight.” you nodded and went over to the other Sigyns, standing so your back was to Tony. It was the only time you ever blended in because of your hair.

“What did you do?” you heard Tom ask Loki quietly, wondering why Tony was so upset with you both. 

“Saved the lives of ten or so civilians,” Loki replied dryly.

“Terrible offense that,” Tom replied just as dry and sarcastically.You couldn’t help chuckling and made a mental note to keep those two from being alone for too long. They really shouldn’t be alone at all.

You got cast as extras for the scene, which is what Tom and Kelly thought would happen when they asked you to join them there today. They slipped you copies of their scripts too. You weren’t supposed to speak, just be extras and stand with the other ‘illusions’ and look pretty. That got shot out the window once the crew realized who you and Loki really were.

Tony finally got smart enough to realize that you and Loki were possibly hiding among the actors. Unfortunately, he decided this while you were pretending to be Tom and Kelly and were the Loki and Sigyn acting out the scene. You tried so hard to keep a straight face while Tony started berating a Sigyn, who very much wasn’t you.

“Sorry, I’m not Kat!” she told him with a grin. He growled and went to harass someone else.

“Why don’t you run?” Kelly hissed in your ear, watching Tony patrol looking for you in the crowd.

“I can’t. My powers are shot right now,” you admitted. If it was anyone besides your friends, you wouldn’t have dared say that you didn’t have your powers. “I was hoping he wouldn’t find us until he calmed down some. I should probably give yourself up before he gets too pissy,”

“Not yet. Go do the kiss scene first. I’ll distract him for a little while,” she told you reassuringly. She pushed you out to where they were getting ready for the kiss scene. You had the feeling that was the real scene they wanted you and Loki for.

Your costume was a halter dress, leaving both of your arms bare, and Loki’s costume had short sleeves for this scene. They also really wanted the soulbond mark in their movie apparently and just didn’t want to ask you outright to be _in_ the movie. So the crew pretended they didn’t know who you really were as they positioned you for the scene. You’d be quietly paid a large sum on the backend for your work. They thankfully didn’t actually touch us and break Loki’s illusions when Loki gave them the warning that you couldn’t be touched.

You really didn’t mind kissing your boyfriend for twenty minutes to get the kiss scene just right.That was an excellent use of your day.Loki seemed to mind oh so much too. They filmed you from every angle and it should have been embarrassing, but you had missed Loki so much that you were way more interested in kissing him than in the cameras trained on you.

After the scene Tony waded in and caused more trouble. He gathered up all of the Lokis and Sigyns, including yourself and the real Loki. You were doomed then, especially as he was still raging. “Kat, Loki, you can’t hide forever,” Tony growled. “Now which ones are you?” you were a little insulted he couldn’t pick you out from all of the others.

“I am Loki!” Tom announced in his perfect Loki accent, stepping forward.

“I am Loki!” one of the extras announced, stepping forward as well. Tony growled when all of the Lokis, including yours, stepped forward to announce that they were Loki. It was hilarious and you had to fight not to laugh. Tony finally started thinking straight and turned to the group of Sigyns instead. You knew you were caught then. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize his niece.

The girls tried pulling the same stunt for you, but it didn’t work. The second he caught your eye, he knew. “Thanks for trying,” you told them. Tony was so pissed that you were actually scared of him. You’d never been scared of him, but his anger was radiating off of him, and you didn’t have your powers to defend yourself. You prayed that he would remember that before he did something stupid.

Like throw you through a wall again.

Tony grabbed your arm and dragged you from the group of Sigyns. The illusion on you vanished the moment he touched you. The actors wandered off to pretend to not be paying attention, and actually do the work they were being paid for. The game was over. “What were you thinking?” Tony demanded. “You’re supposed to be resting!” he roared at you. You felt yourself shrink away from his roar, but you couldn’t, wouldn’t cower from him.

You straightened your spine and glared up at him.

“What were we supposed to do? Let those people die?” you demanded, reaching your other arm around to the small of your back where your enchanted dagger sheath was, just in case this conversation went poorly.

You wasn’t defenseless.

Even without your powers, you weren’t defenseless.

“Why were you even in that situation?” he roared back.

“We went out for breakfast and there was a car crash! We didn’t _plan _it,” you snarled at him. You couldn’t control everything around you. That sadly wasn’t one of your powers.

You saw his hand curl into a fist and acted before you could even think about it. You had a dagger drawn and held between us, in a defensive posture in an instant. You had practiced so much with the daggers that drawing one was instinct and effortless. You realized that right that, you didn’t and couldn’t trust Tony, not with the power between you so out of balance. Tony would never hurt you on a normal day, but his anger was out of control.His anger was created by fear for you, but it had still gone out of control.

Tony’s eyes grew wide when he realized, when he realized he had really truly scared you. His anger evaporated at once. You had the feeling that might have been Loki’s plan the entire time, to try to get Tony’s anger under control before you had to deal with him. “Kat, I’m sorry,” he said softly, letting you go. “I wouldn’t. I swear I wouldn’t-”

“You have before,” you reminded him, taking a step back and moving your free arm to the sheath at your back. Just in case. He had hit you once before when his temper got the better of him. He hadn’t meant it then either, and it was only because Loki was there that you had healed from that experience. It was before you had powers of your own.

“He will not again, darling,” Loki said, stepping away from the actors. He had let you fight your own battle, since he knew that you could. He stepped between you and Tony, shielding you from your uncle. “You can put the dagger away, love. I’m quite sure your uncle would like to have a nice calm conversation about this morning with us inside,” he suggested pleasantly.

“That’s one of the first decent ideas you’ve had,” Tony replied, trying desperately to sound calm and jovial, trying to ease your mind with his tone. You weren’t entirely convinced, still on edge without your powers, but you sheathed the dagger anyway.

“Can I get a shower before you yell at us? I think I still have blood in my hair,” you grumbled. You were still grungy and gross from battle and covered in cuts, scrapes, and a couple of ugly bruises. Loki had hidden them with illusions for playing with the actors.

“Fine,” Tony grumbled. “But don’t disappear. Hang out here today,” he suggested.It wasn’t really a suggestion, but he was trying to make it sound like it was.

“You’re not going to yell?” you asked. Disappearing before he could yell sounded like a good idea.

“Just lecture. A little,” Tony replied with a smile.

“I think you can handle that,” you told him, trying to smile in return. It was hard, though.

You wrapped your arms around one of Loki’s as the three of you walked into the compound. You needed the extra security of Loki’s presence. You were feeling too unsteady without it. Part of it was exhaustion and part was your powers being bound. You really shouldn’t have used all of that power earlier, but you couldn’t have let those people die either. You and Loki headed up to the floor of the compound where your suites were. “I made sure they didn’t touch your suite,” you commented while you walked.

“Thank you for that,” he replied and seemed pleased that his room hadn’t changed.That his second home hadn’t changed.Loki slowed and looked down at you. “Are you alright?” his voice was full of concern. You realized you were still holding onto his arm too tightly and loosened your grip, holding his hand instead, and not squeezing it hard enough to bruise.

“Sorry. I’m feeling off today.” you admitted sheepishly.

He kissed the top of your head. “I know, darling. You will feel better once you get some actual rest,” he insisted. He left you at the door to your suite, after checking the inside for intruders before you entered, so you could shower and change into clean clothes in peace.

His suite was just across the hall.

Loki was home.You both were. It felt strange after all this time, but it felt right at the same time.


	9. Chapter 9

It took way too long to wash all of the blood and dirt and grime off of you and out of your hair. You wondered how on Earth you had gunk in your hair, but it was there and it was disgusting. And it was better not to ask.So you took your time making sure you got all of it out.

You _may _have also been procrastinating the lecture from Tony.

You caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror when you finally got out of the shower and indeterminate amount of time later. You looked like hell and were going to have to ask Loki to heal some of this bruising.Otherwise, you weren’t going to be able to move soon. You sighed and threw on a tank top and pajama pants. They were easy to put on and you were spending the afternoon and evening in the tower anyway. Maybe you’d sneak out after Tony’s lecture to watch the rest of the filming with the crew, but otherwise you weren’t leaving.

You padded across the hall when you were dressed to go find Loki, since he wasn’t waiting in your bedroom or sittingroom where you had expected him to be. It was strange.You were so used to him being constantly around.He’d been on guard duty so often when you didn’t have powers.

It was _so_ strange, in fact, that you drew a dagger on your walk across the hall, afraid something was wrong.

Tony was in Loki’s suite with him. That was definitely wrong.You heard their voices from outside Loki’s door. Loki was giving Tony a report on what had happened earlier and they actually sounded calm for once.You didn’t believe that was right. 

You slipped into the room without trouble as Loki’s shields always recognized you with no hesitation. You didn’t even think they bothered to alert him anymore if it was just you. You sheathed your dagger again, now that you didn’t need to worry about Loki. You padded silently into the room and walked straight over to Loki on his couch. Tony looked away from his conversation and gasped when he saw you. Loki smiled up at you, though his expression dropped when he saw you too. 

“It looks worse than it is,” you tried to sound reassuring, but your voice just sounded tired. Your energy rush from that morning when you had a full-night’s sleep was long gone, and the adrenaline from the emergency had gone with it. “I could use a bit of help with the nasty bruise on me ribs, though,” you offered the peace offering to Loki. 

“Let me see,” he commanded gently. You weren’t offended by his tone and lifted your shirt to just below your breasts so your ribs were visible. It was still high enough to make Tony growl.

“Tony...” your voice held a warning tone. Loki’s cold hand glowed green when he held it against the bruise and you practically sighed in relief as the pain ebbed. The swelling vanished and the bruise’s dark purple color went with it. You lowered your shirt again when he was done. “Thank you,” you said warmly, grateful for the help.

“Let me see that arm.” He was stuck in healer mode so you let him get on with it without fighting him. Besides, the arm hurt from where you landed on it. It was healed just as quickly.

When he was done, you curled up next to him and listened to him give his report, laying your head on his shoulder and closing your eyes. They could deal with the boring report stuff without your attention.

“Tony, can you do your lecture at me while I’m napping?” you asked him tiredly.

“I lectured your boyfriend instead. It was way more enjoyable than lecturing you when you’re not conscious,” Tony replied and you could hear thesmile in his voice.

“You just don’t like him,” you murmured.

“True,” he chuckled.

“Darling, you can go lie down,” Loki suggested gently. “Much as I enjoy you using me as a pillow, you would be much more comfortable in a bed. I can put up with your uncle’s company for awhile, even though it is not nearly as pleasant as yours,”

“Kat, go rest,” Tony added.

You nodded and blearily stood. You hadn’t been expecting your energy to crash that fast. You were more worn out than you had admitted even to yourself. Loki stood with you, a gentleman as per usual.

“You can rest in my bed. It is closer,” you didn’t care that Tony wouldn’t be pleased with this plan. It wasn’t up to him. Loki led you to his bedroom. He paused, knowing Tony was upset, but his desire to take care of you was way higher than his desire to stay on your uncle’s good side. So he walked you to the bed, an arm wrapped around your waist so you couldn’t fall and tucked you into his bed. He normally would have joined you for a nap, but he would be good while Tony was already pissed off at you. He kissed your forehead. “Rest well, love.” you thought he was relieved that you weren’t fighting him for once. You curled in his bed, surrounded by blankets and pillows that smelled like him, even a year later. The stuffed dragon you had given him so long ago was on his bed too, so it naturally got cuddled while you finally got some rest.

It was quite a few hours later when Loki woke you again. “Love. Tom called. The cast is going out to dinner tonight. They would like to know if we wish to join them,”

You sat up and nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds like fun,” you told him brightly. He smiled and offered you a hand. You took it and let him haul you out of bed. His magic changed your outfits back to the costumes from filming. You gave him a questioning look.

“They are still dressed in costume and asked for us to as well,” Loki replied. That sounded reasonable enough for this film cast and crew. “Are you feeling better?” he asked. You nodded and gave him a real smile as you headed outside. 

You made it back out to where the filming was still going on. “You still know your lines, right?” the director demanded when he saw you.

“What lines?” you asked. You hadn’t been told about any lines.

“You didn’t tell her!? You said she’d do it!” The director yelled at Loki.

“Loki... what’s going on?” you wanted to be included in the mischief.

“They would like for us to reenact the comic con scene for the movie. It was so very popular. They were going to have some of the extras attempt it, but since we are here, the director kindly asked if we would do it.”

You nodded you agreement easily. “Sure. It’ll be fun,” you replied with a grin. You had done the skit a couple of times now with Tom and Kelly. “Same lines as comic con?” you asked the director while you were moved into position. He confirmed it was similar and you grinned at Loki. This was always such fun. Loki was led up on a platform that would be green-screened into something more impressive later. You couldn’t believe you were doing this for the actual movie.

You could, however have a little more fun with it. Loki gave you his Cheshire cat grin moments before he teleported onto his mark, legitimately startling the crowd of extras.

"People of New York, look how far you have fallen!" He announced. They murmured confused, shocked. "Look how you huddle, waiting for your saviors to come. They are not coming to rescue you this day. All you have is me! Yes, I have turned from your precious Avengers and defeated them all! I am Loki of Asgard and you am burdened with glorious purpose. Swear loyalty to me, swear your city over to me, and you shall live in riches in your kingdom. Kneel to your overlord!" he boomed. You saw in the glint in his eyes that he was enjoying every moment of this. His expression and delivery were perfect, too. "I said KNEEL~!" He used magic to amplify his voice even more than he should have been able to. At once the crowd of extras dropped to their knees in front of him, more in shock than anything else. Loki took a moment to look extremely pleased with himself.

That was your cue. You straightened your spine and snapped once. Loki took that cue to teleport you onto the platform a few steps from him. You couldn’t do it yourself right now. "LOKI!" you shouted as you stomped toward him. He looked over at you, shocked and acting sheepish and embarrassed.

"Are you trying to rule these mortals without me?" you demanded. You did have to change the script a little from the original, but not much.

"Of course not, my love!" he protested, rising from his bow and trying to look innocent. "I would not!"

You looked out at the crowd, trying to look calm and gentle and kind.. "Was he, dear mortals?" you asked them, calmly, sweetly, gently. They all spoke up in agreement at the same time. You held up a hand to silence them. They quieted immediately. "There is your answer, Loki," you replied, turning back to him.

"But, darling~" he started.

You glared, your hands on your hips. "Don't you 'darling' me, Loki Laufeyson. Back home with you, now!" you ordered, pointing off the platform and off stage.

"My love, they need someone to rule over them!" he protested.

You snapped your fingers and pointed again off stage. "Be gone with you. They shall have their ruler," you turned back to the crowd. "Won't you, my dears?" They all bowed down to you while Loki skulked off toward off stage.

"IMPOSTERS!" Came a roar from the crowd. Tom and Kelly, who stormed up towards the stage at the back of the auditorium. The crowd turned to them, feigning confusion. "Foolish mortals allowing yourselves to be tricked by such amateurs. I am the true Loki of Asgard! One of the Avengers and will never turn away from this city!" Loki took your hand and teleported you off stage. Moments later they called the ‘cut’ of the take.

You and Loki both erupted into giggles at how fun that had been. Tom and Kelly came over to congratulate you too. You had to do a couple more takes of the scene to get it perfect, but it was fun so you didn’t mind. The rest of the cast came up to applaud you once the filming was done for the day.

Tom came up beside you and whispered one word in your ear. “Assemble,” you grinned over at him.

“Same place?” He nodded and the main cast started disappearing slowly, trying to be sneaky. You failed miserably, but had a great dinner together in costume with all of the weapon props. At one point, you were sitting at the head of the table with all of the props at your feet like offerings. You laughed when all the actors bowed down to you, and Loki who was standing just beside your ‘throne’. This was going to be such a hilarious blooper reel. There were other funny pictures from that evening, but that was definitely your favorite.


	10. Chapter 10

After dinner with your actor friends, you went back to the tower where you curled up on your usual couch in the common room to watch TV, read, and wait for your super friends to join you later in the evening. You couldn’t help laughing when the pictures from the evening started coming through social media. They also ended up all over the news. The pictures the cast tagged you in and sent to you were better than the ones the news outlets had found, but that was to be expected.

You made the pictures of the cast all bowing down to you on your throne surrounded by props your new profile picture for all of your social media.

You had given Loki a couple books to catch up on, since he had missed some new releases over the last year. You had stubbornly set them aside for him specifically so he could catch back up when he got back. There were books piled on your coffee table waiting for Loki.You were really determined that he _was_ coming back.No matter how many times Tony told you to put your books away.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a tiny black cat mewing next to your couch while you were reading. You looked down at her and couldn’t help smiling. “Hey, Aunt Pepper. Tony had to go talk to Fury about something. You can hang out with us until he gets back if you want.” you offered. The cat hopped up in your lap and you petted her while she purred. Pepper Potts was Tony’s fiancé, CEO of Stark Industries, and practically your Aunt, even though she and Tony weren’t married yet. She had also recently acquired the power to shapeshift into animals.She didn’t get powers in the initial wave of magic that had swept the world, just like you hadn’t.She’d only gotten them recently, so she was spending more time in the tower while she learned to control them. 

Which meant you occasionally had a cat to curl up and read with you.You didn’t mind, you liked Pepper for all that you had barely seen her before she got her powers.

“Do I need to turn into a cat so you will pet me like that?” Loki purred in your ear.

You looked up at him and giggled at his silly antics and his whispered teasing. “You can do that?” you asked instead of answering his question properly. You weren’t dignifying his seductive purring with an answer.Despite the blush that rose on your cheeks. 

“When you are feeling better, I will teach you how as well. It is not a skill I use often, but it is one of my abilities, and so it is also one of yours,” Loki told you warmly.You’d gotten all of his magical abilities through the soulbond.As well as all of his years of study. 

Tony arrived soon and you caught him scanning the ground as if looking for a missing cat. You waved at him from your spot on the couch. He waved back, but looked distracted, and worried. “Uncle Tony, if you’re looking for Aunt Pepper, she’s here,” you called innocently. You saw Tony turn red, but he nodded and came to join you. He sat on your couch with you, as far from Loki as he could get, and next to your feet. You promptly put your cold toes on his warm leg, which made him yelp and glare at you. You giggled at the look on his face.

Pepper abandoned your lap and went to go curl herself on Tony’s lap instead. Tony tried to act nonchalant about allowing it, but you knew him better than that. Even after all these years, he had issues showing how much he cared for Pepper or for you, though he tried his best.You grinned at the pair and settled yourself more comfortably in Loki’s arms. Tony glowered suspiciously at you and you gave him an innocent smile in return, which just made him glower more deeply, which should not have been physically possible.

Pepper shifted back to human form. Thankfully she had clothes when she did it this time. That wasn’t always the case and it had taken her a lot of work to learn how to shift back and forth with clothes.Everyone in the tower was grateful when she managed it, so Tony wouldn’t have to kill you all for seeing more of Pepper than you should have. 

Tony swore and cursed in surprise at the sudden change while you and Loki laughed at their antics. Pepper was curled quite comfortably in Tony’s lap and wrapped her arms around Tony’s neck, kissing your uncle on the cheek so Tony turned even more red. Though he used to be such a playboy.He was shy around Pepper and walked on eggshells for fear of losing her.“Pepper!” Tony exclaimed, you had never seen your super hero uncle so embarrassed.

“Calm down, Tony. They already know.Everyone in the universe has known since well before you proposed,” Pepper replied with a grin.It was true.Everyone in the known world knew Tony Stark had proposed and knew he was dating his CEO before then.

You yelped when Loki grabbed you around the waist and pulled you into his lap, so you and Pepper were mirrored on the couch. “If it is proper for your uncle to have his love on his lap, then it is proper for me to have mine in the same place,” Loki explained quite reasonably. You all laughed, except for Tony who glared, but couldn’t easily fight Loki’s logic. You settled yourself more comfortably on Loki’s lap and he wrapped his cool arms around you once you were settled.

“You don’t think-” Tony trailed off, losing whatever words he was trying to find. You grasped the concept behind his question, though.He wanted to know if you were ok with his relationship with Pepper.He had gotten so much flack over it and didn’t want any from you too.

“Tony, I don’t care who you love as long as they treat you well,” you told him sincerely, trying to be reassuring that you really was open to whatever relationship made him happy. You were glad, of course, that he’d stopped being a playboy, and you loved Pepper, so it was great.The moment you saw the reassurance in his eyes though you couldn’t help adding: “Unless you love Loki. You can’t have him. He’s mine,” you added, because it was your job to tease him. You stuck your tongue out at him and he laughed.

“You can keep him,” Tony replied, finally relaxing and wrapping his arms around Pepper.

By the time the news aired the footage of the crash again, Pepper’s head was on Tony’s shoulder and Tony was absently petting her hair. They were absolutely adorable together. Tony stiffened every time someone walked into the room, but all he got from them were waves and friendly greetings, so he finally calmed.

One idiot made a joke that was derogatory about Pepper in the relationship with Tony.It wasn’t the first time, people were always saying derogatory things since she’d been Tony’s assistant before he made her CEO. You were the first one on your feet to defend Tony and Pepper, daggers in both hands, one held to the idiot’s throat. Loki was right behind you, not visibly armed yet. You were soon surrounded by supers, all of whom were prepared to fight and all of whom were defending Tony and Pepper. “I’m sorry! It was a joke!” the idiot insisted.

“It’s not funny,” you snarled. You were mildly impressed that this hulking brute was terrified of you, the tiniest girl in the room.And the one without powers at the moment.But then again, on a normal day, you were the deadliest person in any given room.

“No more jokes, I swear!” he begged.

“There better not be,” you snarled. There were cheers from the others. Loki touched your arm.

“I believe he has gotten the point, darling,” he said dryly. Lucky guy was getting saved by Loki. Hopefully he appreciated it. You saw his grateful look at Loki. Loki just glared at him in reply.

“He insulted Tony,” you pouted at Loki.

“That is not a killing offense, dear, or I would be long dead,” Loki’s voice was still dry.

“Fine,” you replied, stepping back from the idiot. You handed one of your daggers to Loki to vanish and sheathed the other one with a flourish.

“You summon excellent daggers,” Loki commented appraising your dagger as you calmly walked back to our couch.

“A girl has to have standards,” you replied with a smile. He laughed and vanished the dagger before he resumed his place on the couch and pulled you onto his lap. You curled up there contentedly and he wrapped a blanket around you to keep you warm against his chill.

Pepper pouted and looked pathetic until Loki summoned another blanket so Tony could wrap it around her. Pepper instantly perked up and you could hear her purring from your end of the couch.Sometimes the animal traits stuck more than she wanted to admit. 

You were soon joined by the rest of your friends, who insisted that you watch Superhero Musical. That movie was the tower favorite and you watched it all the time, sang along every time, and somehow never got tired of it. You all sang along as per usual and you looked up at Loki surprised when he jumped in right along the rest of you. He didn’t miss any of the words, either.

He’d been practicing.

You all stayed up way too late and ended up falling asleep in the common room, on various couches, chairs, cushions and beanbags. You had a feeling that it was Fury who took the picture that ended up on the official Avengers’ website and Facebook page, heavily edited so no supers identities were compromised, of course.


	11. Chapter 11

Somehow, Loki didn’t fight you the next morning when you insisted that you needed to go to class. He understood keeping up with your studies, even if he did want you to rest properly.At least you only had a couple of lecture classes that day, so it wouldn’t be too strenuous.You’d agreed that Loki could come with you as long as he didn’t misbehave too terribly during them.

You laughed at him when he tried to leave the tower in his black suit of sexiness. He wasn’t dressing in his battle armor, since he wasn’t technically coming as your guard, but he wasn’t going to fit in wearing a full suit on campus.Especially not _that_ suit. “You can’t dress like that for college. Unless you’re teaching the class. And even then...” He looked at you confused. You were wearing your usual jeans, t-shirt, converse, and a hoodie stolen from Loki’s closet, your hair braided out of your way. Loki sighed, looking put upon, but magicked himself a pair of perfectly tailored jeans and a comfortable, but elegant sweater. You rolled your eyes, but that was the best you were going to get out of him. “Sit,” you told him, pushing him to one of the nearby chairs.

“So demanding this morning,” he teased, but sat obediently in the chair you’d pushed him into.You weren’t giving him much of a choice.Sure he _could_ overpower you, but that would upset you, which he didn’t want.

“You’re trying to blend in, right?” you asked. He sighed, looking even more put-upon, but let you brush his shoulder-length hair. He pretended to be annoyed, but was purring within moments of you touching his hair.You were one of the very few who could get away with touching his precious hair and he cherished the touch.You pulled it quickly into a slightly messy manbun at the back of his head.

“What did you do to my hair?” he asked when he stood again and saw it in a mirror. He wasn’t upset, just curious.You hadn’t hurt his hair or cut it off, so you were safe from his ire.

“Lots of guys wear their hair like that now. It lets you get away with having long hair without people thinking it’s weird,” you explained easily.You then gave him a mischievous grin and stood up on your toes to place a kiss on part of his neck that was usually covered in hair. “Plus I can do that,” you replied while he shivered at the new sensation and purred.

You drove to campus and parked, mostly because Loki didn’t know exactly where he was going. He offered to teleport you, but you reminded him again that you were trying to blend in and lie low. It was hard enough blending in being who you were.

Once you had parked, you led Loki to the campus coffee shop to get caffeine. The barista started making your order the second you walked in. You were definitely a regular.You placed an order for Loki, choosing something he’d like, since he’d never been there before and didn’t know what to order for himself. “New boyfriend?” the barista asked when you picked up your drink. Which was announced for ‘Sigyn’ even when you hadn’t given your name.

You grinned at her. “Nope, same boyfriend I’ve had for two years,” you replied. She just stared when she realized that meant that the man with you was the real Loki. “It’s just his first time visiting campus,” you handed Loki his drink and you left the shop to walk to class. It was nice feeling normal for once, getting to stroll to class with your boyfriend. You strolled leisurely across the beautiful campus and made it to class in plenty of time.

The lecture hall was huge and you hoped the professor wouldn’t notice the extra student. You didn’t need to worry. If they noticed, they wisely didn’t say anything. There were whispers from some of the students, but nothing major that you couldn’t ignore.

You had to stab Loki hard in the side with a pen when he was flirting innocently with some of the college girls who wouldn’t leave him alone. They giggled at his expression when he got ‘caught’. Silly Trickster boyfriend. He didn’t cause too much trouble though, so you took him out to a yummy lunch on campus. It wasn’t a fancy place, since it was on a college campus, but it was still a nice meal.

After your other class of the day, you headed back to the tower. You’d had to promise Tony and Pepper that you would hang out with them some that weekend instead of just hiding in your apartment. You also had no food in your apartment and didn’t want to go shopping, so you let Loki drive you home to the tower. He really liked driving because he couldn’t on Asgard; he also liked being the gentleman and doing the driving.He could be extremely old fashioned at times.

You did your homework quickly for the weekend in your pajamas in the common room. You weren’t going anywhere else that afternoon, so it really didn’t matter if you were in pajamas. Even if your uncle grumbled that you were wearing a spaghetti strap tank top. It wasn’t scandalous, but he was your uncle and claimed he didn’t want to see that much skin.

You luckily didn’t have much homework, but you still wanted it all done so you could enjoy your weekend. You also really loved having access to all of Loki’s knowledge through the soulbond. It made your classwork and homework a _lot_ easier. Yes, it was cheating. No, you didn’t care. You were too overworked as it was. And it wasn’t like you didn’t _know_ the information.You were just doing the college thing at all to get the degree.

While you were working on homework, Loki got a summons to go talk to Fury. He looked worried at leaving you and really didn’t like Fury much, so didn’t want to see him.. “Lo, it’ll be what, five minutes? You know Fury doesn’t do speeches. I’m just going to sit here and finish this assignment. He probably just has some paperwork or something for you to fill out,” you reminded him.

He sighed, but got off of the couch and moved to your end of the couch to lean down and give you a kiss. “I will return soon,” he promised. He teleported down to Fury’s office and you went back to your assignment.

You should’ve known things wouldn’t stay quiet.

A few minutes after Loki had left, the one of the apprentice healers portaled into the room. “Kat, good, you’re here!” she exclaimed.

You shook your head, hurt that you wouldn’t be able to help with whatever emergency they had found this time. “I can’t help, Claire,” you reminded her, holding up your wrist with the bangle on it. You knew for a fact that all of the healers had been warned that you were out of commission.Claire completely ignored you, grabbed your hand, made a portal, and dragged you through it. “Claire, I literally cannot help,” you reminded her again. Usually the healers weren’t quite _this_ ninny-like.

“All of the healers are tapped or out on patrol. You’re the only one with any juice left. You _have_ to take this case, Kat,” she pleaded. There weren’t many healers, really besides Healer Julia most of them only had a touch of healing power in addition to their main ability. You sighed and let her drag you to Healer Julia’s desk. Julia was nearly passed out sitting at her desk chair, you could see how drained she was. She recovered insanely quickly, in a couple hours she’d be fine to work again, but she didn’t have the same level of healing strength that you did.

“I know you’re off duty,” Julia greeted you when you were standing in front of her desk. “But it’s Pepper-”

“Aunt Pepper?” you demanded, completely on alert then. “What happened?” you asked, your brain automatically going into healer mode and emergency to deal with mode.It was the same state you’d been in for most of the last year and your mind instantly wanted to help.

“She was severely injured on patrol.” That was strange. Middle of the day patrols were notoriously safe. Pepper should have been fine. Hel, she shouldn’t have even been out on patrol.She should’ve been at Stark Industries. 

Julia was digging in her desk drawer for something. She dumped the entire drawer’s contents on the floor and pulled out a key from the mess. “Your uncle should forgive you for this when you save his fiancee,” Julia replied with a glint in her eye. She unlocked the metal bangle around your wrist. She had the whole rest of the infirmary to deal with. Leaving you just the one patient.

Tony was going to kill you, but you couldn’t let Pepper die. They wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t urgent. “Where is she?” you demanded of Claire. You ran together to the emergency bay.

You knew the second that you saw Pepper that the healers were right to call you. You had seen wounds that bad and in this same method only twice before. Pepper had been impaled by a large metal spear. “This is bad,” you told Claire. She didn’t have healing magic, but volunteered in the infirmary anyway. You had to focus to call up your healing magic, to get your hands to glow.

Shit.

You was still too drained for this healing, but you were going to have to do it anyway. You were the only one who could, if you wanted Pepper to live. Pepper had been nearly gutted when she was impaled. She would die and you couldn’t let that happen.

You went to her side, your hands just above the wound in her chest. “Pull the spear,” you told Claire firmly. You had gotten used to taking charge in the infirmary over the past year and the healers obeyed your orders without question.You placed both of your hands on Pepper’s wounds the second the spear was cleared and threw every ounce of power you could muster into her, praying it would be enough to save her.

Tony would be devastated if Pepper didn’t survive.

You didn’t know how long the healing took. You were low enough on power that you were lost to the healing trance. You’d had to let it sweep over you, sweep you away before you could even start the healing. Things were bad when you had to let the power guide you and not the other way around.

“Kat! No!” you heard Loki’s voice from far away. His cool arms wrapped firmly around your waist and hauled you bodily away from Pepper’s bed, breaking your physical contact with her. Your powers were too weak to do the healing with out touching her and the magic snapped.

“Loki?” you asked softly, confused. You looked over Pepper. She was healed, or very nearly. She’d be sore, might scar, but she was healed. She would be just fine.

Loki carefully set you on your feet, like he was evaluating-

Your legs buckled and you would’ve been on the ground if his arms hadn’t still been around you. He caught you easily and supported you.“M‘m ok,” you murmured, wondering why your vision was dark and getting blacker by the moment. He cursed and you looked up at him, still confused. You were just tired from the massive healing. He held you against him with one arm and used his other hand to summon a portal, through which your uncle fell.It seemed he’d picked up the portal trick from Doctor Strange.

“What the hell?” Tony roared in anger. Loki lifted you off of your feet and handed you to Tony.

“Keep her away from Lady Potts,” Loki ordered, gesturing to Pepper on the bed. He stormed out of the room without another word.

“Kat? What’s going on-? Shit! What the hell happened to you?” Tony demanded, turning his attention to you, even above Pepper. He laid you on the couch in the emergency bay.

“I’m fine, Tony,” you tried to insist.

“You’re bleeding from your eyes, and nose, and ears,” Tony replied as he looked you over. “You haven’t been able to move an inch since I got here. And your eyes are...black. What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded, terror in his voice.This was magic.Tony couldn’t fix magic.

“Pepper,” you told him simply. It finally got through to his brain that it was Pepper lying on the bed. “Go to her. I’m fine,” you added. You weren’t fine.You were a dirty, rotten liar.Now that the adrenaline of emergency healing was gone, you realized how badly you weren’t fine. Luckily, you were bound to the god of lies, and Tony believed you.Or at least believed you enough to determine you were stable while he evaluated Pepper.

Loki stormed back in a minute later. He ran to your side when he realized that Tony was dealing with Pepper and not you. “You were supposed to take care of her,” Loki growled at Tony.He had left you in your uncle’s care.

“She’s fine,” Tony replied, too busy examining his fiancée.He really thought you were stable.

“She is anything but fine. Her body was seconds from shutting down. I don’t even know how she even completed that healing. She should have passed out long before she got to this state.” Loki replied heatedly, fretting over you. 

“Lo, the wound-” you had to tell him where you’d seen it before. Each breath hurt, everything hurt.Your body was pissed at your abuse of it. 

You managed to move your hand enough to touch Loki’s. You could switch to telepathy with physical contact.You were too weak to do it otherwise./I’ve only seen that kind of wound twice before. When Balder did it to you and Tony/ you told him, desperate to deliver your message.

“Stop that,” Loki snapped at your use of telepathy.You realized how bad you must look when his voice turned harsh toward you. He fastened the bangle back around your wrist himself.

Yeah, he was pissed.

“We will deal with Balder later. Right now, we are leaving.” Loki scooped you up in his cool arms. You couldn’t have fought him if you wanted to. You didn’t want to. You wanted to rest and sleep forever and your head lulled onto his shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Tony demanded, whirling when Loki said you were leaving.

“I’m taking her to Asgard. She obviously cannot get any rest here. She would have died today had I not intervened,” Loki told him, not bothering to mince his words.

“Couldn’t let Pepper die,” you replied sleepily, your eyes closing when you were safely in Loki’s arms.

“Stay awake, darling, just a little longer,” he bid you, finally softening his tone.

Tony reluctantly nodded once.

“Go. Get her out of here. You’re right. This just proves that we can’t keep them from abusing her kindness or her healing gift. Not while she’s here.” Tony came over to Loki, and therefore to you. “Thanks for saving her, imp. Now go rest. You need to heal.” He kissed your forehead. “Take care of her,” he ordered Loki. Loki nodded, then recited the spell to open the portal back to Asgard.


	12. Chapter 12

Loki stepped out of the portal with you in his arms and you appeared right inside the healing wing on Asgard. "Someone call the queen," Loki ordered, his voice a regal command, a tone you rarely heard out of him, despite that he was a prince.He usually didn’t exert royal privilege, except for now, when you were injured. "Lady Y/N is in need of healing," his words and tone were calm, a practiced court voice, despite the royal orders in his tone. His orders were followed immediately and the servants and staff went running to see them done.

"We need to go to the cemetery," you murmured, practically against Loki’s neck. Your brain had focused on that idea for some reason. It was vitally important that that task was accomplished. “Have to pay respects." It was rude not to do that first. You had to pay your respects to Torun.It was tradition on Asgard that the first thing you would do is go pay your respects.

"We will go once you feel better. Torun will understand," Loki told you softly.His voice had gentled to speak to you. He carried you to one of the private rooms in the healing wing and laid you gently on the bed.

"Loki? I did not know you were returning already," you heard the queen's voice from the doorway.Of course she had come at Loki’s call. She was the best healer in the realm after all.

"I had not expected to return so soon either, Mother. Circumstances necessitated my early return." He stepped aside to she could see you lying on the bed in the healing room. You were too weak to sit up properly.That wasn’t going to convince Frigga that you were alright. 

Her formal decorum dropped at once and she rushed over to the bed. You knew it was bad once her formal decorum had dropped. She sad next to the bed on your right side and placed her glowing gold hands over you. "How did this happen?" she asked Loki calmly. You were surprised at her calm, despite the near franticness of her actions.Loki opened his mouth to reply, but before he could she interjected. "Hold her. She is going to seize," she ordered. Somehow her voice was still calm, despite the severity of the situation. Loki held your body down, his hands glowing green. You felt his presence wrap around your mind to protect it while your body spasmed. Thankfully, it was over quickly through their efforts and you barely remembered it, thankfully.

Frigga was the best healer in the realm, and it had been she who taught Loki his healing skills.

Even she could only do so much.

"Mother, would you like assistance?" Loki asked formally. It would be rude to just jump in, especially since healers could so easily interfere and disrupt the progress of the others if multiple healers were working on the same patient. It could only be done at all if the healers were used to working magic together.

"Not yet. I will let you know if your magical assistance is required," Frigga replied, just as formally. She indicated the other side of your bed with a nod of her head. "Sit, hold her hand and tell me what happened to land my daughter in this state." You looked away from her, embarrassed by your folly in ending up here, and her term of ‘daughter’ made you feel worse.

You kept neglecting to fully accept the consequences of the soulbond with Loki. Namely that you were a princess here, and therefore Frigga's daughter-in-law. By Asgardian custom you were Loki's wife. Loki took your left hand in his right. His mother sighed. "Your left hand, darling," she told him dryly. You couldn't help laughing at the reminder of where he got at least some of his humor from. Frigga smiled indulgently at you while Loki flushed and switched hands. You instantly felt better when power flared around your joined hands. "Do not rely on this trick," Frigga told Loki firmly. "But with the right spell, you can draw power through the soulbond. You will have the relevant texts sent to your room,"she added before you or Loki could ask her for them.

She looked at Loki expectantly. You wisely remained silent. Loki sighed before he answered.“The humans she lives with have taken advantage of her kindness and abilities for the past year," Loki explained, though the words seemed to pain him. You zoned out while he explained further. You didn't need to listen to his explanation and could instead float in the healing haze until it was done. 

You were still weak and exhausted when it was finally finished and you assumed you would be for awhile. Though you were stronger than you’d been and able to function. "You will be fine with some rest, dear," Frigga told you kindly. "You may take her back to your suite to rest. You can go visit Torun tomorrow," she told Loki. "If you're up to it, I'm sure everyone would like to see you at dinner."

Loki nodded and stood so he could get you out of there. 

"Thank you, Lady Mother,”you told Frigga formally. You moved to stand and wasn't at all surprised when Loki swept you into his arms before you could. You didn't complain, not this time. You were still wearing your blood soaked Earth pajamas, which would definitely be out of place on Asgard as well as draw unwanted attention. At least in his arms, you were mostly shielded from stares on that account. Also you loved him and were safe and exhausted, so being carried was perfectly fine.

This time.

"I mean it when you say to rest, Daughter. No magic until your eyes turn back to their normal color at the very least," Frigga ordered firmly.

"Yes, Lady Mother," you replied meekly.You wouldn’t fight her this time.You’d really overtaxed yourself.

She just sighed. "I have heard that tone too many times..." she smiled fondly at Loki. "Before you hide in your rooms, please go visit your brother. He is in the small audience chamber,"

"Do you require an escort?" Loki asked Frigga. She shook her head. How could she make everyday gestures look so regal?You were sure you’d never get the hang of it.

"One of the guards is waiting for you outside," she gestured to the exit to the healing wing.

Loki nodded, accepting her answer. "Very well. Thank you, Mother," his words were formal, but his tone gentle and kind. He leaned down to kiss her cheek, managing to avoid dropping you as he did, which just made you even more impressed with his strength.

Loki carried you through the halls of the palace and you laid your head on his shoulder, trying to ignore the stares of the people you passed. They all greeted you, some with smiles, most with bows and curtsies. A few who got a good look at you looked horrified at your appearance. Thankfully, you arrived soon at the side entrance to the small audience chamber. This was the royal entrance in a small antechamber. Loki set you on your feet next to him, wrapping an arm around you for support. Loki cleared his throat, drawing attention to you. No one in the audience chamber but Thor, who was sitting in the throne like chair at the front of the room, would be able to see you in the antechamber.

"Excuse me," said Thor after he had spotted you. He stood and came over to the antechamber you were in. "Brother! You have returned!" He exclaimed in his usual cheerful boisterous manner. He grabbed Loki in a bear hug and squeezed him too tightly. You couldn't help laughing at them.

"Thor! Let you go!" Loki protested. He just got squished tighter for his efforts. He complained about Thor, but he didn't mean it. Thor finally dropped Loki, who immediately began rubbing his sore back.At least he hadn’t stabbed Thor this time.

Thor turned to you, reaching automatically for your hand so he could kiss it. You saw the change in his expression when he took in your appearance. "Thor, I'm so sorry for your loss," you told him before he could say anything about you. You took a step towards him, opening your arms to offer him a hug. He pulled you tightly to him, but didn't squish you like he had done to Loki. "Our Lady Mother has said that I cannot visit Torun until tomorrow,” your speech got formal like theirs in Asgard as you were speaking their language.You also still felt terrible that you hadn't paid your respects yet.

"He will be glad to see you tomorrow," Thor replied. You were relieved that he wasn't upset. Thor held you tightly to him which you didn't mind. He was so warm and surprisingly gentle. "What happened to you, little sister?" he asked while he was holding you.

"It's been a hard year on all of us," you finally replied. You didn't want to worry him. He had enough on his plate. You yelped in surprise when he swept you up into his arms. You shouldn't have been surprised; you were actually more surprised that it had taken him this long. You were just glad he hadn't thrown you over his shoulder.

"Lady, I have seen black eyes like yours once before," Thor said in a firmer, more formal tone than you had ever heard from him before. Loki wouldn't look at him when he said that. You saw the embarrassment in his eyes. He wouldn't meet your eyes either. "What happened to drain your powers to within seconds of death?"

"When did you see the black eyes before?" you asked instead. That earned you a smile from him.

"You first. Come, Brother. Your darling soulbond needs her bed. We will talk as we walk," you laughed at Thor being Thor and were glad that he was back to being normal. Loki spluttered and insisted he should carry you, but Thor ignored him as usual. He knew Loki would follow as long as Thor was carrying you.

You sighed. "I've been on call to the healers for a year with basically no break. The last month was hell. I only got a few hours of sleep and one decent meal the entire month... We were so busy with villains attacking constantly. Then yesterday we saved the lives of ten or so people and earlier today I had to bring my uncle’s fiancee back from death's door. I was the only healer available," you explained to Thor as he walked you back to the family wing.

"They take advantage of her kindness and her strong healing abilities," Loki added grumpily. "And do not bother looking out for her wellbeing until it is too late,"

"So?" you prompted Thor. "When have you seen this before?" You’d told your story, it was time for him to tell his.

"When Loki was around 10," he started.

"Thor!" Loki shouted. "Do not tell this story," he grumbled, but you could tell he knew that Thor was going to tell it regardless.

"Why? ’Tis a good story. It is not even embarrassing, Brother, not for you anyway." Thor replied jovially. "Anyway, we were all out on a camping trip, some kind of male bonding time with Father. So of course he tells us to go on a hike and leave him alone for awhile. So we hiked and generally annoyed each other and not him for a long while. We were on one of the cliffs and it crumbled out from underneath my feet. I do not know how far the fall was, or how Loki and Balder managed to get down there,"

“Balder flew us," Loki interrupted sullenly.

"It was a long fall and I was severely banged up,"

"He means mostly dead," Loki interrupted again.“This was before Mjolnir,”

"Who is the one telling this story, darling baby brother?" Thor laughed and Loki sulked. "Anyway, Loki used every drop of healing magic Mother had taught him so far to save my life. He nearly died in the process. I had to carry him all the way back to our camp. Father ended the ill-fated camping trip immediately. Loki's eyes were black like that for a month because of it," Thor finally finished his story.

"That wasn't an embarrassing story," you told Loki over Thor's shoulder. He still scowled, but softened his expression some for you.

"No, but you still do not like it told," Loki finally said.

"You just like your persona of the all-powerful flawless magician," Thor laughed. Even Loki chuckled at that. You reached your suite quickly and Thor handed you back to Loki. "It is good to see you two, even if the circumstances are not the best. Get some rest, little sister. I am sure you will see plenty of you while you are here." Thor opened the suite's door for you and Loki kicked it shut behind him, slamming it in Thor's face. Thor laughed from the other side of the door.

He finally set you on your feet again inside the bathroom. You remembered again that you was still covered in Pepper’s blood. "Are you sure you would not like for me to help?" Loki purred in your ear.You were sure you turned at least ten different shades of red at that purred comment. You knew he was teasing, though. He would never push. He was too much of a gentleman. Joking, however, was fair game.

"Loki..." you tried to sound firm, but just sounded tired and exasperated. So you placed both hands on his chest and proceeded to shove him bodily from the bathroom. "Shoo, silly Trickster," you told him, laughing at his pouts. "I want to get a nap before dinner, which means I have to get this blood off of me. And out of my hair. I still have no idea how blood always gets in my hair..." you grumbled. He laughed and held up his hands in surrender and let you push him the rest of the way out of the bathroom. You slammed the door in his face and went to get your overly hot shower and get the blood out of your hair. Again.

Loki didn't leave you anything to wear after this shower. He usually left you something. You was used to his small courtesies and wondered what he was up to. Silly Trickster. So you wrapped a towel around yourself and stomped into the bedroom. He was asleep in a chair by the bed, as if he'd sat down for a second and passed out. That was why he hadn't been as courteous as usual. You stole one of his tunics from his closet. It went down to nearly your knees, so it totally counted as pajamas. You pulled back the covers on the bed and then surveyed your problem. Boyfriend was in the chair. You needed him in the bed. You couldn't use magic and you didn't want to wake him.

You were going to have to wake him.

There was no other way.

"Love," you touched his shoulder and leaned down to kiss his forehead. He opened his eyes, looking confused. "Come on, time for a nap," you told him gently. You grabbed his hands and used all of your weight to haul him to his feet. He was barely awake, but made it to the bed where you settled in among the blankets and pillows for a much needed nap.

"That is an excellent outfit, my darling," he murmured as you were dozing off.

"Shush, you," you laughed, cuddling better against his cool body.


	13. Chapter 13

You woke to Loki absently petting your hair. He was sitting next to you on the bed with a book in one hand. You looked up at him and smiled blissfully. It was definitely a great way to wake up from a nap. He looked down at you when you moved. “Apologies, darling. I did not mean to wake you,” he said with a soft smile.

You sat up and kissed him softly. “It’s not a problem. What’cha reading?” you asked curiously.You were one of the few people who could get away with interrupting his reading without getting snarled at.

“One of the books Mother sent with more information about the soulbond. I admit that I had not done much research on it previously. It had not seemed necessary,” he said sheepishly. He felt he should’ve known more about it before he performed the ceremony to bind you to him for eternity. 

“What? You haven’t read all of the books in the library already?” you teased, grinning up at him. 

He laughed, amused and not hurt by your teasing. “I was going to have to wake you soon anyway, darling. It is nearly time for dinner. Are you up to going?” he asked gently.

You nodded; you wouldn’t skip it even if you didn’t feel up to going. Loki’s family was expecting to see you there.Loki knew that about you and gave you a look.“I actually feel up to it and I’m not just saying it,” you promised. Annoying Trickster boyfriend knew you too well. He grinned at you and it just felt so comfortable and like home to be with him. You could tell he loved how comfortable your interactions were too.

“Then we should get ready,” he said and set his book on the table next to his bed before reluctantly climbing out of the comfortable bed. He offered you a hand to help you out and you let him pull you to your feet.

He held you for a minute, wrapped in his arms, then let his magic flow over you both to summon you outfits for dinner. You ended up in a soft black gown with blue accents and soft black ballet flats. Loki sat you down in the chair in his room and brushed out your hair. He enjoyed braiding it, so you let him and didn’t complain. In exchange, you got to braid his. It was a fair trade and one you enjoyed immensely.His design for your hair was simple that night. He swapped places with you when he was done without you having to ask. You brushed his hair out carefully and began work, tying his hair into a half ponytail, leaving a few pieces to frame his face. Before he could see what you were doing, you pulled a dagger from the sheath you wore on your wrist when you was wearing a dress. You cut a lock from the underside of your hair at the nape of your neck where no one would be able to tell it was missing, and braided it in to his hair in a lovelock on the left side of his head, right above his shoulder. You grinned when you were finished. He looked so shocked when he saw it in the mirror. your bright comic-book red hair was obvious braided in with his raven black hair. “What did you-?”

“It is called a lovelock. In ancient times men braided a lock of their loved one’s hair in with theirs, to show their devotion. It was always on the left side, on the heart’s side,” you explained easily.You had been planning on doing this when you came back to Asgard once you had read about the tradition. It was a tradition on Asgard as well as an old Viking one.The vikings had gotten it from somewhere after all. You saw the emotion in his eyes and the absolute love.

He stood and kissed you deeply, seeming to think that the only way to express his gratitude for such a gift.“Then I shall wear it with pride,” he finally replied when the kiss was broken. You had to take a moment to catch your breath as you beamed up at him.He offered you his arm and escorted you to dinner. He stood so tall and proud, and you caught him fingering the braid more than once during your walk.

“I haven’t looked,” you admitted softly, breaking the comfortable silence. “Are my eyes still really black?” you asked him, unsure you really wanted the answer.

He inclined his head. “It will fade eventually,” he replied, trying to sound reassuring.

“Won’t the people be...freaked out by it?” you asked, concerned it would look bad on Loki or something. You still didn’t know all the rules of being on Asgard, despite studying the culture. 

Loki chuckled and shook his head. “No, most of our people know enough about magic and mages to know exactly what it means,” he replied easily. You weren’t reassured, but didn’t have much choice. You had to go to dinner; it was expected. At least you could use your black eyes as an excuse to leave quickly if you needed to.

You were announced when you entered the dining room and took our seats at the head table with Odin, Frigga, Thor, and his wife Sif. They were all wearing black as well, though less than your mostly black dress. You needed to show your mourning of Torun, since you had been gone for the last year.

Dinner was enjoyable, though Sif kept fretting over your eyes. You promised her that you were alright. Multiple times. You thought she and Frigga were going to sic Thor on you if they even _thought _you were misbehaving and not resting. It was so very different from your family back home, who kept abusing your healing abilities.

“Sister, what have you been doing on Midgard while Loki has been stuck here?” Thor asked at one point during the meal. You had the feeling that he was trying to find out how you’d gotten in such a state. 

“I’ve been going to school to learn to be a proper healer,” you told him with a smile. It was the easiest explanation for the Asgardians of your major in college.

He nodded in appreciation.“That is a difficult profession, an admirable ambition,” he raised his mug of beer in salute.

You smiled and gave him a small nod, accepting the praise. “Lo, are there any good medical books in the library?” you asked Loki while you were thinking about it. He would know and you didn’t want to forget.You were here to rest and would have plenty of time to read.

Loki nodded. “I will show you where they are,” he offered.

“Lo?” Thor boomed in laughter at the nickname.You and Loki both turned red. “You let her call you Lo? He will not let any of us get away with that! We have tried for centuries to give him a nickname. Good job, little sister!” Thor continued laughing. Even Sif and Frigga smiled.

“Sorry, Loki,” you told him softly. You hadn’t meant for him to get called out on it.

“You will pay for that, kitten,” he whispered in your ear. You stiffened, hearing a different voice using that word instead of his. A voice from too many years ago and a scene of the fire flashed in your memory, coming unbidden to your mind.

“Loki, please pick a different nickname,” you told him softly. He looked concerned, afraid he’d hurt you.You shook your head. “Dad used to call me that. He was the only one who could get away with it,” you told him, smiling fondly at the memory, now that you weren’t caught off guard with it. 

“Very well,” he replied, concern vanishing with your explanation. “But I will find one, and use it, in front of all of these nice people,” he threatened.

You couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity of his threat.“Whatever you say, Lo,” you grinned at him and it took every ounce of your willpower to not stick your tongue out at him. You were at a formal dinner after all, even if their formal rules were a bit lax.

A nervous looking girl approached the head table towards the end of dinner. All the attention turned to her. “Yes, dear?” Frigga asked. She was one of the least intimidating of all of you.

“My queen, the theater troupe I am apprenticed to wished to invite your family to our show this evening. We are performing a new play,” the girl stammered. It had taken all of her courage to approach and say the words. Even Odin softened at the adorable girl.

“Unfortunately, my husband and I already have an engagement this evening, but I am sure the Princes and their Ladies will be glad to see your show. Right?” Frigga asked Thor and Loki, both of whom agreed graciously. The girl curtsied and promised you would have seats set aside for us.

You left the dinner shortly afterwards so you could make it to the theater. The four of you made an impressive procession all done up in your dinner finery. The second you entered the theater, you were led to the best seats in the house. You ended up sitting between Loki and Thor, which was perfectly ok with you. Sif kept looking over at you like the three of you were going to cause all sorts of trouble. You planned no such thing, but trouble kept managing to find you anyway.

The theater filled in around you and soon the chimes announced that the show was ready to start. The crowd grew silent to watch the show.You had no idea what the show was, just that it was new.

Whatever your assumptions were, they were so very, very, very wrong.

It started with actors playing Balder and Loki departing Asgard for their adventure. _Are they doing what I think they’re doing?_ you thought loudly at Loki. You couldn’t use your telepathy with your powers bound, but you’d learned before you had powers a trick for thinking in a certain way so Loki could hear you and he could reply with his telepathy.

/By the norns, I think they are.../ Loki replied, just as shocked as you were.

The actors went to Midgard in their play and Balder tried to take it over, stopped by Loki and warriors, who you assumed were supposed to be the Avengers. You clutched onto Loki’s hand to keep from laughing aloud.

/Oh, shit. They must have gotten the story... oh no/ Loki thought with a hint of panic in his tone.

_What? What story did they get?_

/I fulfilled the terms of my ‘banishment’ by having an adventure and making my own way. I found my soulbond and together we defeated a worthy adversary, Balder. I am free to move back home if I so choose. I did not tell you yet, since it did not affect anything. I do not have to make any choices, yet, but I had to tell Mother and Father the tale of my adventure. The theater troupe must have gotten ahold of it/

Fuck.

That was the only thought you had. That thought was repeated multiple times throughout the evening, as well as some other colorful words in both English and Asgardian. Especially when the actress playing you appeared on the stage. Thor elbowed you when she did. You just wanted to hide. They really did have the whole story, how you were just a little powerless Midgardian girl who befriended Loki and how you fell in love.

When they got to the scene where you acquired your super powers. You thought your nails left marks in Loki’s hand. Thankfully, your actress was screaming off stage during it and the act of trauma that had blasted open your powers was only heavily implied. You wouldn’t have been able to stand watching it. You could barely stand remembering it as you watched Loki’s actor and the one playing Tony run across the stage to come to your actress’ aid.

/I had no idea they were doing this. I am so sorry, darling/ Loki told you as you crushed his hand tighter in yours. You realized that you was doing the same thing to poor Thor’s hand. You saw his expression harden in concern when you had grabbed his hand. You tried to soften your grip, but he shifted his hand so he was holding yours. It wasn’t romantic, it was comforting and you gave him a small appreciative smile. He squeezed your hand in reply.

They even did, in great detail, the scene where you nearly died and Loki saved you with the soulbond. That scene was hard to watch too. Especially since they recreated it in perfect detail. Thor squeezed your hand again. You felt his concern then and realized he hadn’t known this part of the story. You remembered that he hadn’t been there when Loki had told Odin and Frigga what happened. You squeezed Loki’s hand in reassurance when you saw tears in his eyes as he remembered watching you nearly die in his arms.

At least they did justice to your final battle with Balder. It was a spectacular battle across the stage. They changed some timeline of the events around so they could end with your official soulbond ceremony on Asgard.

There were cheers from the crowd when the play was over. You all stood and applauded politely and took bows when the actors indicated you in their thanks. You said the expected polite nice things to the actors and congratulated their hard work. Loki and Thor made your apologies for not staying longer, reminding them that you were still ill. They believed it from your black eyes.

The four of you left the theater, much more subdued than you had entered it. “What’s wrong with all of you?” Sif asked, dropping some of her formality with the late hour and concern. None of you spoke for a long minute.

“That was...all real,” you finally managed to answer. “A little exaggerated at parts, but all real.” you told her. She hadn’t known. She thought it was a play, a make believe version of events. You wrapped both of your arms around Loki’s waist as you walked. Thor touched your shoulder. You looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

“I’ll be ok, Thor,” you told him. “Just a little unsettled. I wasn’t expecting that,”

“None of us were,” he reassured you.You nodded at what he wasn’t saying. He would have warned you, would have declined for you, had he known what was in the play.

“It was not a bad show...” Loki admitted after another long minute. 

“It would have been better if we had been prepared,” Thor grumbled. You walked awhile longer before he changed the subject.“Are you two planning on staying in your suite tonight, or should you be expecting to have to go find you at 3am?” he asked. You appreciated that he was trying to lighten the mood.

“You will find out at 3am,” Loki replied with a shit-eating grin.

“Library or kitchens?” you asked innocently.

“Maybe the gardens tonight,” he mused

“You two are going to be the death of me,” Thor chuckled.

“The roof?” you asked Loki.

“Maybe the catacombs,”

“Isn’t the vault down there?”

You continued your innocent banter all the way back to the family wing. Your suites were fairly close to each other. “Nice braid,” Thor finally commented. Loki touched his braid self-consciously, but grinned at his brother. You saw the pride in his eyes.

“It was a gift from my beloved,” Loki replied. Thor saw the pride and joy in Loki’s eyes and didn’t try to tease him anymore. Instead, he clapped Loki on the shoulder, then took your hand to kiss it.

“You two sleep well so I do not have to come hunting you down,” Thor bid you warmly.

“Night, Thor, Sif,” you waved to them. Loki bid them goodnight and you continued down the hall to your own suite.

“Are you sure you are alright?” Loki asked once you were safely in your suite.

“I’m fine, Lo,” you replied. He rolled his eyes at the reminder of the conversation from earlier. You just laughed and went to find something to wear to bed. It was late and you both needed sleep. You ended up in the same tunic of Loki’s you had worn earlier and he joined you in the bed a minute later. He had let his hair down, but refused to remove the one small braid that had the cut lock of your hair braided into it. You smiled at it and at him before curling up with him to get some sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

You were very rudely awoken in the middle of the night by someone barging into your bedroom. You had been having terrible dreams about Balder returning, so you didn’t mind waking. You _did_, however, greatly mind someone barging into your bedroom in the middle of the night.

You sprang up, drawing a dagger as you did. The lights came on and you saw Thor standing in the doorway to your bedroom. “Where’s Loki?” he asked you grumpily.

You looked in the bed where Loki had been laying next to you. He wasn’t in the bed. That wasn’t a good sign. “Apparently not here,” you replied, sheathing your dagger.

Thor sighed in exasperation. “I’ll go find him. You stay here,” he told you firmly.

You were already climbing out of bed to help him. “Yeah, right, Thor. Like I’m not going to help you find him,” you told him just as firmly. You saw his face turn a deep red and he turned around. Your pajamas had ridden up, not even enough to show anything, but he still had too much honor to look. You rolled your eyes, but threw on a pair of Loki’s pajama pants for Thor’s propriety’s sake. “Come on Thor. Wonder where my wayward soulbond has disappeared off to...”

“Without you? I would suggest we try the library first,” Thor suggested. He offered you his arm, a proper gentleman even when you were both in pajamas. You took his arm and the two of you walked through the silent corridors to the library. You found Loki there, pouring over old texts, reading by the green glowing lights that surrounded him. “At least he was easy to find tonight,” Thor commented dryly.

You went over to Loki and placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Only your hand passed right through. It was an illusion. The illusion vanished when you had touched it. You sighed heavily. “Or not.” you grumbled.

Thor growled. “He’s getting better at this game. Use the soulbond,” he told you as if that were obvious. He wanted to get this over with, which you didn’t blame him.

Though you just wanted to know what Loki was up to.

“I can’t,” you reminded Thor, holding up your arm with the metal bangle on it. “Our Lady Mother was quite insistent that I cannot do any magic until my eyes turn back to their normal color,” you added, rolling your eyes and grumbling over that restriction.

Thor laughed. “You can do this, even with no magic. There is power in the soulbond itself,” Thor explained. “Just focus on him, the soulbond will lead you to him. It works, I promise. Anything to get us all back to our beds faster tonight.”

Thor wouldn’t lie to you, so you closed your eyes and focused on the soulbond and on your Loki, questing out with your senses to find where your wayward husband wandered off too.

Husband?

Where had that thought come from?

You felt the tug though, and pointed away from the library. “This way.”

Thor bowed elegantly. “Lead on, sister dear,” you giggled and set off with Thor. You had to backtrack a few times to find new routes. The soulbond led us in a straight line, it didn’t take corridors and walls into consideration while it did.

You finally ended up in a tiny room hidden behind a tapestry. Loki was in there with a stack of books, a filched apple, and glowing green magic lights around him. He looked up legitimately startled when we burst in to his hiding spot. “How did you-?” he started. You held up your left hand, the soulbond marks were glowing on your arm. “Ah. There is no chance you will allow to you continue your work, is there?” he addressed that last comment to both you and Thor.

“Not a chance,” Thor replied dryly.

“Nope. Come along love. You can play with the books tomorrow,” you told him with loving exasperation. You were just glad you’d found him and he was ok. You held out a hand to pull him to his feet. Thor beat you to it and threw Loki over his shoulder. You caught the book Loki had been reading and gathered the others from the stack while Loki spluttered and cursed. Thor grabbed you by the back of the tunic before you could get all of the books.

“Come on, sister dear, or you’re going over the other shoulder,” Thor told you firmly. He grumbled about how he shouldn’t have brought you along. You could only only hold a couple of Loki’s books, since Thor grabbed one of your wrists, like you were going to wander off or something. “Why can’t you sleep at night like normal people?” Thor grumbled.

“You have been asking me that since I was five,” Loki grumbled. “Now will you kindly put me down?” He demanded grumpily.

“You have yet to give me a decent answer on why _I _cannot sleep because _you _cannot sleep,”

“It is not my fault that Mother thinks you need to forcibly carry me to bed just because I was up reading.” You imagined Loki briefly with an anime character’s pouty cat ears and couldn’t help giggling at that image. Loki must’ve caught the image from your mind, because he chuckled and with a flash of green magic, had cat ears of his own, raven colored like his hair. You laughed and broke from Thor’s grip so you could go investigate them. You giggled in delight at his newest trick.

Thor stopped and set Loki down so he could glare at both of you. “Can you two please behave for five minutes?”

“But he has cat ears!” you protested, standing up on your toes to touch Loki’s ears. “They’re adorable.”

Thor just huffed. “You are both incorrigible. Come along, children,” he threw you both over his shoulders, laughing. It didn’t take much to cheer him up. “I should have just done this in the first place. And not woken you.” He directed that comment to you.

You and Loki both just laughed.

He finally set you down outside of your suite and produced two vials of potion from his pocket. “Hey!” you protested when he tried to hand one to you. “I helped you find him!” you grumbled. The last time you had taken one of these potions you were unconscious for a whole day.

“Just take it,” Thor replied. “Mother color coded them this time,” he added, handing you the blue one.

You sighed, but took the stupid potion. “Are you sure this is the right one?” you asked when you were nearly instantly dizzy with exhaustion and swaying on your feet after just moments.

Loki wrapped an arm around you. “Mother must be displeased and thinking you aided in my mischief,” he said with an apologetic tone. “Come darling. Bed for both of us.” You don’t know how either of you made it back to bed. You were both pretty drunk on sleeping potion. You had a feeling thatFrigga was displeased with Loki too for his mischief tonight when you were supposed to be resting.


	15. Chapter 15

The sun was well up by the time you roused and fought your way awake from the sleeping potion Frigga had forced on you. You both woke laughing at the state of yourselves and the bed. The previous evening, you had only just managed to fall into the bed drunken from the potion and had ended up in a tangle of limbs, messy hair, and blankets. Somehow the only thing still intact was Loki’s one thin braid that had your lock of hair. At least his cat ears were gone. You disentangled yourselves and the blankets, still laughing and tried to wake up enough to start your day.

You sobered when you remembered what the morning was going to entail. This was going to be difficult. “We have to go see Torun this morning,” you reminded Loki. You doubted he had forgotten, but you had to be sure. It was a duty that you couldn’t neglect. 

Loki nodded. “I know, darling.” His voice was sad, his eyes haunted. This would be hard for him too.

“It’s going to take an hour to detangle my hair,” you whined when you saw the state of it in the mirror. Your eyes were still jet black, like your pupils had taken over the entire colored portion of your eyes. It was creepy and weird not to see the normal blue there.

Loki chuckled. “Allow me, darling,” he bid you softly. You sat and let him fix your hair with a mix of brushing, magic, and curses. You laughed, but he did manage to get it back in order. “Close your eyes,” you rolled your eyes that he was being silly, but you closed your eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his fingers through your hair as he braided it. “What do you think?” he asked. You heard the hesitation and worry in his voice. You opened your eyes and smiled brightly up at him before you stood and kissed him.

“I love it,” you replied, brightly.“And I love you.” He had braided a lock of his hair into yours after all.Anything that hurt his precious hair was something very important, especially when he did it on purpose. 

After that he used magic to change your outfits to black clothes appropriate for this visit and fix his own hair. “When can this thing come off?” you grumbled at him, holding up your wrist with the bangle on it. You missed your magic. It was so very useful.

He placed a finger under your chin and tipped your head back so he could look at your eyes. He gave you a kiss when he had gotten his look. “It will be awhile yet, darling,” he told you softly. You sighed and grumbled, but softened when he said: “Come, let’s go visit Torun,”

You nodded and let him lead you to the gardens. You stopped on the way to pick out a stuffed bear from one of the stall markets. It was appropriate to bring her a gift.

Torun had a beautiful tombstone under the biggest tree in the gardens. It had been her favorite tree to climb. Someone had long ago nailed hand and footholds that even a toddler like Torun could ‘climb’ and feel they had an adventure.

Loki stayed back so you could pay your respect properly. You knelt beside Torun’s grave, tears in your eyes. She had been such a gentle sweet child. So you spoke to her, like you spoke to your parents when you went to visit their graves. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come play with you sooner, Torun. Your daddy said you would forgive me for coming late. I brought you a present,” you told her brightly. You presented the stuffed bear and set it next to the other toys that had been left as tribute. “I’m sorry you had to leave us all so soon. Everyone here misses you. May you spent all of your days in joy in the lands of your ancestors,” you bid her gently, with tears in your eyes. You turned to leave Torun’s grave. Loki stopped to say a few words before you headed back to the palace. Thor and Sif were waiting for you at the entrance to the palace.

You gave Thor a hug when you saw him. He wrapped his arms around you tightly in return. “Thank you,” he told you softly.

“I’m sorry,” you replied. You didn’t know what else to say. There was nothing else to say. Thor let you go and you gave Sif a hug too.

“Loki, Father wants us both to sit on the small council today,” Thor announced when the hugs were over. Loki looked worriedly at you.

“I’ll be fine, Lo. Go do your duty. I have research to do anyway,” you reminded him.

He still looked concerned, but nodded his agreement.

“Breakfast first,” Thor announced. He jovially took Sif’s arm. Loki offered you his. You placed your hand on his arm and the four of you went to breakfast, chatting about small things while you did. Frigga was still in the family breakfast room when you all arrived. She smiled when she saw you all chatting and laughing together like the family you were.

“It gives me joy to see you all getting along,” she greeted you warmly. You all bowed or curtsied to her and said your greetings. She handed a book to Loki. “The spell you were looking for last night is in there,” she told him with a smile.

“Thank you, Mother,” he replied and kissed her cheek. He vanished the book without an explanation.

“What spell were you looking for?” you asked him curiously.

“I will show you later, darling,” he replied, with a hint of color in cheeks. You smiled at him. You was sure you’d enjoy whatever mischief he was up to.

“Dears, we do still have a schedule to keep to,” Frigga reminded you when you all spent too long at breakfast. Both of the boys pouted. They had been arguing over some of the finer points of the play last night. Or something. You had lost track of the conversation having a civilized conversation about healing texts and spellbooks with Frigga. She promised to have a selection sent to your suite, especially as you would spending the day quietly studying, which she greatly approved of.

Thor went to Sif and Frigga so he could escort them to the healing wing. Loki came to your side. “Lo, you don’t have to-” you started.

He just gave you a look. “Darling, do not even try. Security has been severely tightened since the attack. Torun died in that attack. I am not willing to risk your safety,” he told you firmly.There was no room in his tone for arguments.

“And it’s not just because you’re the big strong man?” you grumped.

He laughed. “No, darling. It is only because you love you,”

“And who is keeping you safe?” you demanded, yet again cursing your lack of powers right now. You figured he would feel you could protect yourself if you had them.

“The guards that follow me around all the time.” He grumbled back. “It is quite annoying, but none of us are alone anymore. The guards do try to be unobtrusive, but...” you saw his annoyance at them and the new situation. All you could do was laugh at his misfortune. He walked you back to your suite in companionable conversation.

When you arrived there, he looked so worried to be leaving you.

“Loki, I’m fine. I’m staying in the suite today with a stack of books, actually resting for once. Our suite is heavily shielded, and I’m sure you’ll be listening for any call for help. Go be a prince, silly Trickster,” you gave him a kiss, then gave him a push toward whatever he was supposed to be doing. He laughed and vanished in a flash of green light. You silently wished the guards keeping track of him good luck and ducked into the suite where you found a stack of carefully selected medical and healing texts to keep you entertained for the day.


	16. Chapter 16

Nothing happened while you spent the day curled up comfortably with your books. Your suite was quiet and it was a relief to just relax for once. Loki had left you tales to read when you got bored of research and studying. You kept impatiently checking your eyes throughout the day, but nothing changed.They remained the same creepy black they’d been since you saved Pepper.Lunch arrived on the coffee-table in a flash of green magic, so you didn’t have to go scavenge for something to eat, thanks to a courteous Trickster boyfriend. You smiled at his thoughtfulness, and thanked him, even though you weren’t entirely sure he could hear you so far away.

A note appeared in your lap. -Anytime, darling- you grinned. You loved your silly mischievous boyfriend.And of course he was listening in on the outskirts of your thoughts.He wouldn’t intrude, but he would be listening to see if you called him.It was a delicate balance, but one you knew he wouldn’t cross the line of.

He came back to the suite in time to freshen up before dinner. He, however, forgot to warn you when he was returning, and teleported into the room without announcement or preamble. It was his suite after all and he’d probably been doing that since he learned how to teleport as a child. 

You were on your feet with a dagger already thrown at him and two more in your hands before you realized who it was. Loki laughed and vanished the dagger before it could hit him. You dropped the other two and ran to him. “Loki! You scared me!” you scolded as you wrapped your arms around his neck. You had been startled by his sudden appearance, but what scared you more was that you had nearly stabbed him in the chest.

“I’m sorry, love,” he whispered, holding you tightly, stroking your hair to soothe you. “I have been so used to just teleporting into my suite all these years that I forgot it might startle you,” he admitted. You realized that he loved that you were here in his suite and safe, but that he hadn’t gotten used to sharing it with you yet either. “I am impressed with your reaction, though. You have been practicing,” he commented. You nodded, but still didn’t dare let him go, still afraid over nearly stabbing him. “Darling, I’m alright,” he soothed as he held you

“I’m sorry!” you wailed, clutching onto him tighter. “I threw a dagger at you!”

He laughed.“And that was the correct response to someone teleporting in to our suite,” he reminded me, stroking your hair. “Had I been thinking, I would have at least warned you first.” You nodded and finally relaxed, reassured that he was ok. “Shall we get ready for dinner?” he asked gently.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” you replied with a tentative smile up at him.

“Good,” he leaned down to kiss you and used magic to dress you both for dinner. You loved that he could do it, but couldn’t wait to get your magic back so you wouldn’t have to rely on his magic. “First, though, I have a spell I need to look up.” He summoned the spell book Frigga had given him earlier. “I have not had a chance all day to look for it.” He flipped through the pages while you watched him, curious what spell he was looking for. “Here it is,” he murmured with a smile. He used magic to hold the book open in midair and carefully reached up to untie the braid containing the lock of your hair.

You watched him confused. “You don’t like it?” you asked, feeling a little hurt.

He shook his head. “Patience, darling,” he replied with a smile. He held the lock of hair in his glowing hand and recited the spell. When he was done, the lock of your hair had disappeared from his hand and was back on his head, as if it was growing there. You reached up to touch it, and it was in fact attached to his head, growing among his own hair as if he had been born with the lock. “There, now it shall never be lost,” he explained with a grin. “Unless of course, I should lose my Lady’s favor. There is a reversal spell in here,” he added, just to make sure you were aware.

“I don’t see that happening,” you replied with a smile. You kissed him, then reached up to rebraid that section of hair for him. You unbraided your own lovelock and handed the lock of raven hair to him. “Do mine?” you asked hopefully. He smiled and looked back to the spellbook. One recitation later, and he was carefully rebraiding your hair for you, a raven lock of his hair growing among your own comic book red. It wasn’t just a dyed lock either, it was actually his. The texture was different than your hair.

“There is a reversal for it,” he repeated reassuringly. “If you ever want to remove it,” you just stood up on your toes to give him a kiss.

“Thank you,” you replied, ignoring his comments about removing it.

He vanished the book again and offered you a hand so he could escort you to dinner.

“How was the play last night?” Frigga asked you during dinner that evening. None of the four of you would look at her.You didn’t want to answer that question. She kept staring you all down until Sif finally saved you.

“The actors were very good,” Sif hedged with as polite of an answer as she could.

“Oh dear. That is the nicest thing you can come up with?” Frigga asked. “Was the play crude, or insulting in some manner?” She had gone in protective mother mode.She wouldn’t have her children, adopted or otherwise, be insulted in her palace.

“The play was the tale of my banishment and journey,” Loki finally told explained to her. Frigga would know all the contents of that, as Loki had had to report his journey to her. “We were unprepared.” His words were simple, but his tone wasn’t. He still wasn’t pleased that you hadn’t been prepared and that you’d both had to remember unpleasant things. “I do not know how they acquired the entire tale, but they had every detail, Mother,” he added, his eyes haunted. You touched his hand, placing yours over the mark on his skin. His expression softened and he gave you a smile.

“We were just unprepared, Lady Mother. I do no think they intended to cause offense,” you added quickly before Frigga could truly get upset. She nodded, but didn’t look entirely convinced. Thor and Sif jumped in to agree with you. None of you wanted the troupe in trouble just because you and Loki had been uncomfortable.

The rest of dinner passed without incident and with way too much delicious food. “Loki, I need your help this evening,” Odin ordered towards the end of the meal.

“Mine too, Father?” Thor asked.

Odin shook his head. “Just your brother tonight,”

Thor nodded, though had a tinge of wariness to his response. “Very well, Father.” Odin beckoned to Loki, who stood, but gave you a worried expression. You smiled at him, trying to be reassuring. He took your hand and bowed over it to kiss it.

“I will see you later, darling,” he promised you in a whisper. “Thor?” Loki asked as he stood again.

Thor nodded. “I will escort her home safely,”

“Thank you,” Loki clapped Thor on the shoulder and went to go help Odin with whatever it was he needed. Sif whispered something in Thor’s ear. He nodded and stood, offering her his hand. He looked at you expectantly. You sighed, and stood.

“Sorry, Kat. I’m not feeling well tonight. Morning sickness is not very aptly named,” she complained. It was the first time you had ever really seen her without her perfectly mannered formality. Apparently pregnant women got passes on formality on any world.

“It’s no problem,” you replied, though you were definitely going to have to get out of the suite tomorrow, since you had spent 90% of the day there and you were going to go stir crazy. Thor walked with his arm around Sif’s waist and you followed behind them, trying to think of something fun to do that night. Thor looked back to you and reached back to grab your hand with his free one.

“Come along, Sister. I have seen that bored, lonely expression on my brother’s face too many times. No tricks from you tonight.” You pouted at him while Sif laughed. At least she was feeling ok enough to laugh. Thor stopped at the door to his suite. You managed to get free of his grip and continued on your way to your own suite. Thor grabbed your arm. “Where do you think you are going?”

“My suite? you can see it from here, Thor,” you replied dryly. He sighed and let you go.

“You are such trouble. You and my brother both.” You laughed and waved to them and headed quickly to your suite. You slipped back inside and changed into your pajamas, letting your hair down from the elaborate braid from dinner.

About an hour later, you were bored out of your mind and went to go find something fun to do. Thor was sitting outside of your suite’s door. “Took you longer than it takes Loki,” he greeted you with a grin. “He would have been out here about twenty minutes ago.” He offered you a hand. “Come, I have some fun for you,” he bid you. You grinned and took his hand. He led you down the hall to his suite. A board game was set up on his coffee table, but Sif was nowhere to be seen. “Sif retired already. She really was unwell.” Thor told you, seeing your concerned expression.

“Can you tell Loki I’m here? He’ll worry,” you asked. Thor smiled at you and gestured to one of the big pillows on the floor.

“I have already sent him the message,” he replied. “Sit,” he bid you. You laughed and sat on one of the big pillows. Thor handed you the rulebook for the game. You just looked up at him, surprised he was so prepared. “I may have used this tactic on Loki before,” he admitted. You laughed again and read the directions for the game. Thor picked a throw blanket off of his couch and wrapped it around your shoulders before he sat at the table with you and you began to play the board game. The game was fun, as was spending time with Thor. Thor was sweet and kind. Even if he constantly had a loud boisterous manner about it and seemed like an overgrown child most of the time.

The hour was late indeed when there was a knock on Thor’s suite door. Thor gestured for you to stay where you were and went to answer it. He stepped aside and let Loki come in. You grinned and jumped to your feet to go greet him. He looked tired and wan. There was danger in his eyes. Something was really wrong and he was barely holding onto his control. “Is everything ok?” you asked him. He nodded and smiled at me.

You didn’t quite trust the smile, it was off, almost malevolent.

“Did you have a pleasant evening with Thor?” he asked, sounding jealous. You had a feeling this was an old rivalry, and he had lost romantic interests to his brother before. You had to tread carefully with your answer so you didn’t offend either of them.

“He was very generous to offer to keep me company tonight. Your company, however, is always much more preferable. No offense, Thor,” you grinned over at Thor. You hoped your jovial tone might ease the situation. It didn’t seem to work. Thor took a step forward.

“None taken, Sister,” Thor replied, emphasizing the last word. “You look like hell, Brother. Father had you do complicated magics for him again, did he not?” Loki nodded brusquely, wrapping a possessive arm around you as he did. Thor glared at him, seeing the dangerous glint in Loki’s eyes, just as you had. “Brother...” his tone was warning. “I know dealing with Father puts you on edge, but I will not allow you to endanger your soulbond over your own hurt feelings.”

Ah, that was Loki’s problem tonight.

Odin had done something to mess with his emotions.

“We’ll be fine, Thor,” you told him with what you hoped was a reassuring smile. In this mood of Loki’s, if you went with him, you really were going to have to trust that he wouldn’t hurt you. Or do something stupid just because of Odin messing with his emotions. Thor didn’t look like he wanted to let you leave. He didn’t trust Loki like this. “Love, let’s go home,” you bid Loki, hoping he would listen to you. You saw emotions run across his eyes. Hurt, betrayal, anger, fear, distrust.

His emotions landed on fear and you saw him make a decision. You saw how hard it was for him to make that decision too. He took a step away from you and pushed you, gently, but still pushed you, into Thor’s arms. Thor caught you before you could fall. “Keep her here tonight.” Loki said gruffly, his voice hoarse with emotion and fear. “I do not trust my control tonight, or her safety with me,”

“Loki! No!” you protested and tried to go to him, but Thor had wrapped his strong arms around you.You reached out a hand to Loki, but he vanished from the room without another word. “Thor, let me go,” you warned him, angry at being held back.

“Calm down, Sister, calm. He did the right thing and we both know it,” Thor tried to reason with you. That didn’t stop you from pounding your elbow into his ribs, repeatedly. “I’m not letting go,” he told you the second time you hit the same spot hard. “Kindly stop hitting me, Sister,”

“Let me go, Thor,” you snarled at him, lifting one of your legs so you could kick him. He swung you around so you couldn’t kick him. “I have to go to him,” you insisted.

“Not tonight, you don’t.” Thor replied. “Calm down, he will be fine.” you struggled against him again, but it was useless, not without actually hurting Thor, which you wouldn’t do unless he actually hurt you. You finally stopped fighting him. He steered you toward the couch and pushed you onto it. He stayed standing, wisely not trusting you to stay put. “You have never seen him like this, have you?” Thor asked you gently, once he saw that you weren’t jumping off the couch to try to escape again. You shook your head. “I have. Many times. Can I sit, or are you going to try to escape?”

“You can sit,” you told him grumpily. He didn’t look like he entirely believed you.You had been hanging around Loki too much.

“Loki has entrusted me with your safety tonight. Please don’t make it difficult,”

“For now,” you could agree to that much, especially if he was going to give you an explanation.

“I will take ‘for now’.” He sat next to you on the couch.

“He’s hurting, Thor, I need to go help him,” you begged.

Thor shook his head. “Not tonight. Let him calm down. At least let you tell you about it before you try fighting you again,” he insisted. You held your hands up in surrender. you wouldn’t fight him. Yet. He nodded and you lowered your hands. You picked up the throw blanket from where it had fallen earlier and wrapped it around yourself again. Thor finally relaxed when you did, since he finally felt that you wouldn’t run. “Father can be a bit of a jerk. Actually quite a bit of a jerk. Fine, he is an asshole. He has pitted us against each other all of our lives. He always preferred me and Ball because we were big and strong like him. We look just like he did when he was young. Loki was adopted and yet he’s the only one who took to Frigga’s magic. Father hates him for it, and yet makes him do complicated super advanced magic for the benefit of the realm he says. And then he spends the entire time berating and belittling Loki while he does the complex spells. Between Father’s verbal abuse and the drain of the magic, it puts him in the mood you saw him in. He’ll be fine in the morning once he’s slept it off,” Thor promised you.

“And I can’t go to him because?”

“He does not trust himself not to hurt you out of misplaced anger at our Father. His control on his powers and emotions are basically gone. He will be here first thing in the morning, feeling terrible, with flowers or some other romantic nonsense to make this up to you.” You laughed at that and felt bad for Sif about Thor’s feelings on romantic gestures.

“Thor? Is something wrong?” Sif asked from the doorway to their bedroom. Thor nodded.

“Loki is having an off night and would like for Kat to stay here tonight. Is the guest room set up?” he asked. Sif nodded. “I will get her settled and take the couch tonight. Go back to sleep, love,” he bid her. He stood and kissed her gently and she went back to bed after wishing you a good night. He came back into the main room and looked at you.“Please stay here tonight, Sister,”

You sighed, but nodded. “Fine. You better be right about this,” you told him. He nodded and took your hand, pulling you to your feet. He led you to the second bedroom in their suite. You was grateful that it hadn’t been Torun’s old room. It was decorated as a generic spare bedroom.

“Do I need to get you a tonic from Mother, or will you stay?” he asked you firmly.

“I’ll stay. I promise,” you told him, giving up. He nodded and bid you goodnight. He would be sleeping on the couch in the main room, keeping guard, and making sure you stayed in the suite. You weren’t stupid enough to try to leave when Thor was keeping guard. You curled in the strange bed without your Loki and tried to get some sleep. It didn’t go well. You were too worried about him and tossed and turned all night, but finally dozed off some to get a little sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

You were plagued with nightmares that night. This wasn’t particularly atypical.You’d been plagued by them ever since the fire that had killed your parents when you were 13. You hadn’t had them nearly as often or as severely since Frigga had done healing magic on your mind. They still came occasionally, though, and of course, tonight when you were without your powers, without Loki, and with your mind already worried about him, they came for you with a vengeance.

It started with the fire, as it always did. Though, now, you had your proper memories of events, and not the altered ones you had lived with for years, when Fury had mistakenly thought hiding the fact that you have powers was a good idea.

You had to relive making your way, gasping for air and coughing from smoke, through the fire to try to escape the house. Had to relive finding your parents, tied to your dining room chairs in the foyer, gun shot wounds in the middle of their heads. You screamed for them, crying, begging for them to get up and get out of the fire as you tried to shake them awake. Logically, you knew they were dead already, but you were just a traumatized, terrified, 13 year old girl.

Logic had no place here.

Self preservation kicked in through your horror plagued mind and you knew you had to leave before you died in the fire. You took one last look at your mommy, and saw the wound in her head and just screamed, unleashing a fire tornado in and around the entire mansion as you did. Something crashed. You tried to make yourself lift your hands to ward it off, your adult self knowing what was coming, but you couldn’t change the nightmares, only relive their horrors.

A pillar that had held up...something... in the house crashed into you, pinning you to the floor, burning the leg it was on top of. You still had that scar to this day. You tried to push it off, but it was too heavy and you couldn’t move it. You knew there was help outside. You felt the ice and water supers attacking your protections. You couldn’t scream loudly enough for them to hear and you knew they would never think there was someone alive in here, not with the fire tornado. All you could do was throw extra power into the tornado, strengthen it, try to tell them there was someone in here controlling it when the fire just existed burning nothing.

Tony burst in through the front door, answering your prayers. You waved your hand and yelled for him, desperate as you were coughing from the smoke.Tony rushed over to your side, swept aside the burning pillar and swept you into his arms all in nearly one movement. You begged for him to save your parents too, but after one look at them, he told you their were beyond your help and rushed you outside.Your connection to the flames died when you were outside of their protection and they vanished, leaving only the natural flames behind. You passed out in his arms after he had passed the flame barrier around the outside of the mansion.

The nightmares used to end there, but there were more horrors in your past now for the nightmares to find. The next on the list was when you was raped and your powers were blasted open. You had been drugged to the teeth with something meant to knock out supers’ abilities when you were at a classmate’s birthday party. A jerk football player who was mad at you for rejecting his advances had set the thing up. There should have been no way for you to use your powers, but either due to their raw strength, or the fact they were blasted open again that night, they were at your disposal in that moment. You had turned the boy who did it into a vegetable when you threw him across the room, your telepathy had burned through his mind. You never learned if he got better, nor were you dying to find out.

You thought the nightmares would end there, but you were wrong.

So very wrong.

You were going to curse the theater troupe for bringing up these memories. You blamed the play for them being so close to the front of your mind. 

The scene changed and you and Loki were curled on a couch watching a DVD when intruders broke into the tower. You jumped to your feet and Loki told you to run for safety. You didn’t have control of your powers yet and couldn’t use them to help him fight so you ran, thinking you were going to a better spot to fight the intruders from.

Instead, Loki stopped in the hallway. He took out two of the intruders, but the other two snuck up behind him with guns. You ran to help him, shouting for him. He turned in slow motion to face the attack as the guns went off.You threw daggers at the attackers, killing them when the daggers went through their throats, and shoved Loki hard out of the way. You had thought you had made it, thought you had saved him, until your legs had fallen out from under you, until you saw the pool of your blood and finally registered the pain in your chest. You had taken the bullets meant for Loki. Loki cradled you in his arms, dumping every ounce of healing magic he had in to you to save your life. It wasn’t enough. He’d had to use the soulbond ceremony to tie your souls together. Even then, it had been a close thing for you both to survive, for if you had died after that, he would have too.

Of course, this was a nightmare, and it cut out before you could at least hear him say the loving words of the soulbond ceremony. You thought that was surely the last horror you would have to relive that night. You were wrong. Again. You were quite tired of being wrong.

The scene shifted to a night you and Loki were in your superhero costumes on patrol. You tried to fight it, you didn’t want to relive this night either, but the nightmares held you fast.

That theater troupe was so very, very dead for bringing these memories to the surface.

In the nightmare, you found two bad guys and followed them to their hideout. You had walked right into a trap set by Balder. He injured Loki gravely the moment you walked into the hideout. You’d had to use nearly all of your power to save him and while you were drained, still had to fight him and the minions he had acquired. They separated you the moment your fire shield failed. Loki had barely been back on his feet. You should have lost that fight. By all rights you should have been enslaved by Balder right then and there. Luck, and some admittedly quick thinking on your parts, had managed to get you out of it. Loki got Balder monologue-ing while you freed yourself and a supervillain. You teamed up with the supervillain to stop Balder.

The scene faded with Balder’s defeat. You could feel the blankets you were fighting against. Could feel warm arms holding you, shaking you, trying to get you to wake, but you weren’t quite free of the nightmare yet. Something pulled you back.

This wasn’t a memory. You knew that instantly, but you didn’t know what it was. You found yourself in a small plain room you didn’t recognize. A figure appeared before you: Balder. He looked nearly identical to Thor, but a few years younger with big muscles and long blond hair. He was dressed in battle armor and you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you did _not_ want to be alone with him, even in a dream. He had already tried to enslave you once for his ambitions to take over the Earth. He was physically strong and had magic of his own, and Loki’s magic didn’t work on him.

“Look at the wonderful present my little brother has wrapped up for me,” he purred as he took a step towards you. You reached for your daggers, ignoring that this was a dream. It felt too real. Your dagger sheath wasn’t there. Shit. You didn’t wear it to bed. You kept it within arm’s reach, but didn’t actually wear it. So you were stuck facing down Balder, in your pajamas, with no weapons and no powers. Great.

At least you were wearing pants.

That had to count for something, right?

No weapons, no way to effectively fight. That left one option. So you ran, or tried at least. Balder grabbed you in an instant, slamming your back against a wall. He held both of your wrists above your head, nearly crushing the bones in them. You yelled in pain and tried to kick him, to struggle, something, anything. You weren’t just going to give up. “Enough, little one, stop fighting,” he purred. “There is no shame in surrendering,” he added. “My brother left you for me, all bound up,” his thumb ran over the metal bangle on your arm “with pretty black eyes and no protections and he left you all alone for me to find. What a wonderful surprise,”

You felt ice surround you, felt cold hands on you, felt cool arms wrap around you to pull you from the dream. You felt yourself fade from the scene as the real world took hold, but not before you heard Balder’s voice promise that he would come for you.


	18. Chapter 18

You finally managed to shut your mouth and stop screaming.It took more effort to open your eyes.You wrapped your arms around Loki’s neck and sobbed into his shoulder from fear, until you heard the other voices asking if you were ok. You looked up and around, confused, until you realized that you were all in the spare bedroom in Thor’s suite. Loki had pulled you into his arms after waking you from the nightmares. You didn’t know when he arrived, clearly sometime during the nightmares, but you hadn’t felt him and he hadn’t woken you just by his presence.

You knew you were an exhausted disgusting mess, covered in sweat, and now melting ice, but you still found yourself smiling when you saw the looks of concern on Thor’s and Sif’s faces, glad your family cared about you. 

“I’ll be ok,” you tried to reassure them. It probably would have worked better had your voice not come out as a harsh croak and not even let you finish the sentence. Great. You tapped Loki’s shoulder. He looked down at you concerned. You hadn’t tried this with him yet, but you hoped. [Would you tell them I’m ok?] you signed quickly with your hands. You hoped in that moment that he had gotten the ability from you through the soulbond. He raised an eyebrow, but did as you asked.

“She says that she is alright,” he translated. “How in the nine realms can you talk with your hands?” he asked you after he had translated.

You smiled up at him, glad he had gotten the ability. [Clint is deaf.So was one of the girls who lived at the tower for awhile. I learned how in order to talk to them]

“Very ingenious,” Loki replied aloud. He explained to your confused audience while you laid your head back on his shoulder, exhausted. “I’m sorry, darling. I should not have left you alone,” Loki whispered against your hair. You shook your head. It wasn’t his fault you had nightmares.It had never been his fault you had nightmares.

“Is there anything you need, dear?” Sif asked, concerned.You must really look like Hel. 

“Would you get us all some tea?” Loki asked before you could try to speak up. You couldn’t help smiling at that.You always got tea after nightmares.

Sif went to go make tea and set up the service in the other room. Thor took a step over and offered you his hand. You took it and let him haul you to your feet and wrap you in a hug.

“I could not wake you,” his voice was sad, hurt, worried.

You nodded. That was typical. The only thing that ever woke you from the nightmares was Loki’s ice powers. “I know-” your voice croaked out again.

“Here, darling.” Loki had stood from the bed. He placed a glowing green hand against your throat and healed the damage you had done screaming your lungs out.

“Thanks,” you told him with a smile. He nodded in reply and you turned back to Thor. “I know you couldn’t, Thor. Thanks for trying. I would have warned you, but this is one of the first times I’ve had nightmares like that since your mother healed my mind... I’m sorry for worrying you,” you added. You really did feel bad for worrying them. There was a reason only Loki knew about your nightmares. He wouldn’t have either if he hadn’t caught you having them so many times over the time you’d been together. 

Thor hugged you again, not having words to reply.

“Tea is ready!” Sif called to you from the other room. Thor went to join her and Loki came over to you and wrapped his robe around you, comforting you how he could. You smiled up at him, grateful that he was always so thoughtful.

“Are you feeling better?” you asked him, concerned over his mental state from last night.

He kissed the top of your head. “I’m fine, darling,” he reassured you gently, though you didn’t believe him.You’d bother him about it once you were in the safety of your own suite. He was at least doing a little better, so you’d leave him alone on the subject for now.

Loki steered you to the main room of the suite where Sif had set out tea on the coffee table. She was sitting in the recliner with her cup of tea and Thor was sitting on one end of the couch. You took a spot between him and Loki and accepted your cup of tea. It was nice to sip on the hot tea surrounded by family.

“I’m so sorry I worried you,” you finally said, speaking directly to the cup of tea. You were really bad at talking about nightmares, or yourself, or your own needs. “Please don’t tell Frigga about the nightmares. She’ll worry and they really haven’t been as bad as they used to be…” you hesitated, but knew they deserved an explanation for what had happened. “I’ve had nightmares of the night my parents died since the day it happened. They were killed for their money and the people who did it set our house on fire while I was trapped inside,” you explained for Thor’s and Sif’s benefit. Loki already knew all this already.“They mostly went away after Frigga did the soul healing. Tonight, with all that’s going on, and that godforsaken play, I had nightmares about the fire, the night I got my powers, the night I was shot, and the night we defeated Balder,” you looked up at Loki then. “Did you see what happened next?” Loki had telepathic abilities and could usually see your nightmares, at least while he was in the room with your.

Loki nodded. “I did,” he said gently, though you could see the worry in his eyes.

“That did not seem like a normal dream,” you started, then went on to tell the others exactly what had happened.

“That was not a normal dream,” Loki agreed when you had finished telling the others what happened. “I did not know Balder had the power to influence dreams like that…” he said worriedly.

“He never did before,” Thor agreed, sounding equally worried. Balder having more powers than he’d had previously wasn’t a good thing. 

It was then that you saw the hand shape bruises on your wrists where Balder had held them in the dream. You drew Loki’s attention to them. “That was definitely not a normal dream,” you commented, scared by this development.

“We will have to tell Mother about this part,” Thor told you gently. You nodded. This had become a matter of security. If Balder could mess with you in your dreams, none of you were safe.

There was a knock on Thor’s door a moment later. You all looked at each other confused. The only people who bothered you were all here. Thor went to answer it and Loki stood from his place on the couch, drawing a dagger, just in case, shifting so he was between whoever was at the door and you and Sif, protecting you both equally. “Mother, come in,” Thor announced for the benefit of the rest of the room.Everyone relaxed.Loki vanished his dagger when Thor stepped away from the door to admit his Mother. Sif was already up to get another tea cup. You tried to get up and help her, to at least be of some use, but Frigga stopped you.

“Let me see your wrists, dear,” she bid you gently. There was no arguing with Mama Frigga. You pushed up the sleeves of Loki’s robe and showed her while wondering how she had found out about Balder’s interference in your dream. “I had a vision,” she explained, which was enough of an explanation for her children. She healed the bruises in an instant. You figured it was second nature to her by then to just heal every bruise and pain that came across her path.

Frigga accepted the cup of tea from Sif and you all went back to your places around the sitting room. “Tell me what happened,” she bid you softly as she took the last chair.There was no questioning or disobeying her order.You were to do as you were told. The queen would be obeyed.

You looked at your cup of tea, but it was your story, so you had to tell it.The boys couldn’t bail you out of it. You opened your mouth to speak, but Loki touched your arm, stopping you. “Let me,” he told you gently, holding up a hand glowing with his green magic. “Close your eyes, darling, you do not need to watch this again.” He touched your temples, drawing out the image of the nightmare to play for everyone. Thankfully, he only pulled the part where Balder had shown up. Loki caught you watching and pulled you to him, so your face was hidden against his chest.

“I’m fine, Loki,” you murmured, but didn’t fight his grip on you. He let you sit back up once the scene was over. Silly overprotective Trickster boyfriend.

“Have you seen this before, Mother?” Thor asked, ignoring you and Loki.

Frigga pondered it, but shook her head. “I will set the scholars to research it. Balder has never had the ability to affect anyone’s dreams before. However, for tonight it is late and we should all get back to bed,” she said firmly.

“Yes, Mother,” you all replied obediently. She didn’t look like she believed any of you, but let it slide for one night. Loki waved a hand, cleaning up the tea with magic as well as the tousled bed in the second bedroom. He walked you back to your own suite. Frigga had a guard to escort her back to her suite, so you didn’t have to worry for her safety.

“Are you going to tell me what happened last night?” you asked him once you were safely in your own suite.

He gave you a look, then pulled you to him, holding you too tightly. “I’m so sorry, love,” he whispered against your hair.

“Loki, you didn’t do anything to hurt me, except insist that you couldn’t trust yourself not to hurt me. What did he do to you?” you asked, your own voice full of hurt on his behalf. He had been so broken and bruised the day before and didn’t let you help.

“It was a big very complicated spell Father wanted done last night,” he started, but stopped. You wrapped your arms around him, a silent reminder that you were there for him.“He does not appreciate my work, but I still keep trying to please him anyway. His comments fray my temper,” he was oversimplifying things, but you didn’t call him on it. You were just glad he was telling you at all. “I shouldn’t have left you last night. I’m sorry for that. Though, Sif has slept here more than a few nights when Father has done the same thing to Thor. It is kind of tradition by now,” he added with his normal smile in his voice.

“You’re really ok?” you asked him with concern.

“I’m fine, darling,” he promised. “But we both need to get back to bed if either of us are going to get any sleep tonight,” you nodded, but then made the mistake of running your hand through your hair.

“I need a shower first,” you grumbled. The sweat and ice combination had dried to make you extra gross.

“Do you need help?” he asked with a mischievous grin.

You laughed at him. “No, Trickster,” you replied. You stood up on your toes to give him a kiss. His laughter followed you to the bathroom.

You took a way too hot shower, finally relaxing after the nightmares. You took a look at your eyes in the mirror after you had gotten out and put on the tunic you had stole from Loki’s closet. Finally the black was starting to lighten in your irises. You could finally see the distinction of your pupils again.

Hopefully your magic would be back soon.

Loki was waiting in the bed for you when you returned. You hesitated about joining him. “Darling, it is safe. I will protect us both. Balder will not be able to attack you again tonight,” he promised. You nodded and climbed into the bed next to him. He tucked the lock of raven hair back from your face, hooking it behind your left ear. You didn’t notice until you were falling asleep too quickly that his hand had been glowing green. “No more dreams for you tonight, dove,” he whispered. You felt him kiss your forehead as you fell asleep in his arms, magicked to sleep, thanks to your troublesome trickster boyfriend.


	19. Chapter 19

You woke up to find that Loki wasn’t in the bed. The sun was up, so you knew that he wasn’t just on a midnight stroll somewhere. Had something happened? These were supposedly dangerous times on Asgard. 

You had just reached for your dagger sheath when he came back in the room. “Good, you’re awake!” he greeted you with a child-like grin. He was carrying some kind of tray with him. You sat up against the pillows to see what he was up to, confused as you tried to get your mind off potential danger. He set the tray on the bed in front of you. There was a plate on it with a huge stack of pancakes, a single rose in an adorable vase, a breakfast juice, and silver wear.

“You brought me breakfast in bed,” you grinned up at him. That was adorable. Thor had warned you that Loki would do some ‘romantic nonsense’ this morning. You should’ve believed him.

“I did,” he agreed, sitting on the other side of the breakfast tray from you, looking adorably apprehensive.

“Did you already eat?” you asked, offering him a fork.

“I have not,” he hesitated, but took the fork from you. You sighed and dug into the pancakes. He wouldn’t start eating them until you had.Overprotective trickster

“These are delicious,” you told him after the first bite.

He grinned a Cheshire cat grin at you, clearly pleased with himself. “I am glad my lady approves,” he replied.

“You made them?” you asked, surprised.Loki didn’t cook.

He nodded and his grin only grew.“I spent an entire year making Thor eat pancakes until I got them right. They are not exactly a common food here,” he explained, grinning at the memory of forcing Thor to eat his cooking.

“Poor Thor. How many times did you poison him?” you asked and stuck your tongue out at Loki, letting him know you were only teasing, though the question was legitimate.

Loki laughed.At least he was amused.“Only twice. Moron still kept trying them after that, for some reason,” Loki was still laughing.You weren’t surprised that Thor kept trying the pancakes.He’d do anything to make his brother happy. You devoured your pancakes in peace. “I have a fun morning planned for us, though we both have work to do this afternoon,” Loki told you once the pancakes were gone.

“What work do we have to do?” you asked. You weren’t expecting any work.

Loki rolled his eyes. “That is for later, dove. Fun now,” he replied and you couldn’t help laughing at him. He used magic to vanish the breakfast things, though the rose reappeared on your beside table. You both climbed out of bed and he summoned clothes for you both.

You found yourself dressed in riding leathers. “We’re going riding?” you asked stupidly, though it was obvious.

“To get where we’re going today,” he replied. He wasn’t giving anything more away than what he had to. Annoying trickster boyfriend.You made your way down to the stables where his stallion was already saddled. The sweet little mare you had ridden last time you were here was saddled too. You went to her and petted her nose in greeting, cooing at her. She was so sweet and gentle. Loki gave you a leg up into the saddle, which you appreciated. You hadn’t been riding in awhile and had only gone a couple times the last time you were here.

You rode for a long while, chatting while the horses strolled along. It was fun, but you were also impatient to find out what your actual activity for the day was.

You ended up at a pond, or small lake maybe. You didn’t know enough to make the distinction. It was gorgeous either way. You dismounted and Loki picketed the horses nearby. “This place is gorgeous!” you told him as you walked to a spot where Loki had a picnic blanket set out near the shore.

“Not nearly as gorgeous as you,” Loki replied as he bent down to kiss you. You stood up on your toes to meet him halfway. “The picnic is not the only surprise about this place,” he told you with his mischievous smile. He stepped back and stripped off his shirt.

You took a moment to appreciate the view.

It was quite the nice view of perfect abs.

“You’re not going in there?” you pointed at the lake. “It’s still spring,” you reminded him. He’d freeze in that water. He laughed.

“_We_ are going in there,” he replied with a grin.

“No way!” you shrieked and giggled when he swept you up into his arms before you could run for safety. “Loki! We’ll freeze!” you repeated. “If you ever want kisses again, you better not throw me in there,” you warned when he got too close to the edge of the water. He laughed and walked calmly into the water. You blushed when you realized he had vanished his pants. At least he was wearing either swim trunks or underpants. It was hard to tell from the angle of being in his arms. He used more magic and you were in a swimsuit. “Seriously, Loki? We’re going to freeze. Or at least I am. Just because _you’re_ a frost giant doesn’t mean all of us can survive the cold,”

You flinched when the water touched you, expecting it to be ice cold. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t as hot as a hot spring, but it was plenty warm enough to swim in. You laughed in delight and Loki chuckled. “Do you know how to swim?” he asked. You nodded and he set you down in the water. You grinned at him and splashed him in the face with water before diving under. You heard him laugh before he came to try to find you.

You played in the water for a long time, having a splash war and generally being small children. There was a floating barge-like structure in the middle of the pond that you took turns diving and jumping off of. You were both tired and laughing when you made your way back to the shore. After a quick use of magic on Loki’s part, you were back in real clothes and dry and curled up on the picnic blanket to have lunch.

You unfortunately had to go back to the palace after that. You both apparently had work to do. “Now, will you tell me what work we have to do?” you demanded when you had nearly reached the palace. You really wanted to know what you were going to be up to that afternoon. You wanted some warning and Loki wasn’t giving you anything.

“No,” he replied pleasantly. Too pleasantly.

“You’ve been hanging out with Thor too long,” you grumbled at him, which just made him laugh.

The servants took your horses and Loki used more magic for yet another fashion change as he led you to a small practice court in the palace grounds. You were both in what you assumed were Asgardian workout clothes. “This is your job for the next couple hours,” he told you and gestured to the female warriors who were stretching nearby. “I have to practice too, so don’t grumble at me,” he added.

You sighed heavily. “Fine, I haven’t been able to practice properly for the last year anyway.” You’d still managed to practice, but no one else had the same skill with daggers as Loki did, so you hadn’t been able to learn anything new. You made your way shyly over to the group of women. Their leader saw your approach, and you watched her assess you. You tried to stand tall and proud like a princess was supposed to be, but you knew you were failing. You were shy and not a trained warrior like they were.

“Welcome, Princess. We are glad you have chosen to train with us,” the leader bid you.

You felt yourself relax as you thanked her. “I pray you do not mind the intrusion. I am only a beginner,” you reminded them in careful Asgardian. Your abilities were nothing to brag about, especially in front of them.

One of them scoffed. “You’ve had Loki training you for over a year. I think that hardly qualifies as a beginner, dear princess.”You laughed at that, glad the formality portion of this exercise seemed to be at an end. You got started on dagger work and you realized that you weren’t as out of practice as you thought. You really hadn’t been out of practice, just hadn’t been learning anything new. They taught you a few new tricks and you did fairly decently during the sparring exercises as well.

After that, you had healing lessons with Frigga in the healing wing. You couldn’t actually aid her without your own powers, but she did teach you some of the finer points of determining how much magic needed to go into various types of injuries. She was smiling fondly the entire time, and you could tell she was remembering teaching Loki about healing many years ago.

You and Loki promised Thor you’d stay in your suite that night. You were both exhausted from your big day and needed the sleep. Thor looked relieved that he might actually have a nice quiet evening and be allowed to sleep through it. “A whole night where I do not have to deal with your mischief, Brother? Whatever shall I do with myself?” he laughed. You laughed at him and his misfortune.

You and Loki were still laughing and joking about leaving the suite just to annoy Thor when you curled up in bed that night. You felt his magic when he kissed you goodnight. “You know I dislike that spell,” you mumbled to him as you were already falling asleep. You had been expecting it, though, so you weren’t surprised that he was spelling you to sleep.

“I know, darling, but I don’t want to risk Balder attacking you again, especially not so soon. I love you,” he whispered the last words as you fell into a dreamless sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

You woke to the dangerous combination of the feel of magic in the air and Loki cursing loudly. That was a terrifying combination and not a good way to wake up. It was so terrifying that you were instantly awake with a dagger drawn looking for the danger.

You didn’t see any danger. You _did_ see a kid sitting in the bed against the pillows in the same place where Loki had been sleeping last night. It was a twelve year old or so looking kid with long raven black hair pulled back in a tail with a magenta-red streak in it. “Loki? Why are you twelve?” you asked once it sank in that this kid was Loki.It took embarrassingly long for you to realize that, but you were half awake. 

“Eleven,” he corrected absently, starting at the spell book on the bed in front of him. “And you’re one to talk, oh queen of the 8 years olds,” he grumbled, but had his typical mischievous grin. His eyes didn’t leave his book as he spoke. You risked a glance in a nearby mirror. He was right. Somehow you were both kids. Though you didn’t look exactly as you had as a child. Your eyes were still black, there was a raven streak in your hair, and the soulbond marks on your arm.

“Darling soulbond, why, pray tell, are we children?” you asked. At least your mental age didn’t seem to be affected by whatever was going on. You also noted that the tunic of his you had worn as pajamas that night was now a proper dress and would fall well past your knees.

“A spell went very wrong,” he answered, rifling through the spellbook.That wasn’t particularly helpful.

You sighed heavily. He was being difficult. “What was the spell supposed to do?” you asked, getting ready to steal the book from him if he didn’t give you proper answers soon.Maybe your mental age was a bit affected by his spell.

“It was supposed to let me see if going back to the past would break the soulbond,” he answered absently.

You ripped the book from his hands at that. “You want to break the soulbond?” you demanded with tears in your eyes. You couldn’t believe that he wanted to break the soulbond. You thought he loved you and wanted to be with you. Yes, the circumstances behind the soulbond were unfortunate, but you had both accepted it. You thought you had anyway.

Loki looked over at you confused, then shocked at your tears. “No!” he exclaimed. He came over to your side of the bed and wrapped his arms around you. “Not at all, darling, not one bit. I was just doing research on the soulbond. I swear, it was just research. I do not wis to break it. I wasn’t trying to break it. I just read that there were cases where it had been successfully broken. I wanted to know how, since I had never heard of such a thing until this book,” he hesitated a moment, then added. “And if I am being completely honest, I would feel better about our soulbond if I knew that you had the option of breaking it, since you did not have the option of accepting it when it was made,” he admitted softly, looking away from you in shame.He shouldn’t have bound you to him without your consent, but he’d had to in order to save your life.

“Loki, I’m happy the way things are,” you reminded him. “Except being stuck as an eight year old,” you added.

Loki tugged the book back from your hands. “I am looking for the reversal,” he commented dryly. “If not, it will reverse automatically at midnight,”

“So we just have to not leave the suite until then,” you replied. That could probably be accomplished. Probably.Ok, only possibly.“Any other books it might be in?” you asked. You could at least help him research how to fix his mess. He pulled a book from the stack and handed it to you. “You promise it was just research?” you asked him, still hurt.

“Yes, darling. I swear it on the soulbond,” he replied softly. “I’m sorry to have worried you. And I’m sorry to have accidentally turned you into an adorable child,”

You stuck your tongue out at him for that comment before you got to work on the research. You both poured over the texts, looking for a reversal spell until the door to the suite burst open. “Brother! Mother sent me to find you. She said you are causing trouble. Again. What did you do this time?” Thor called as he stormed further into the suite. You made a noise that was some kind of awful mix between a squeak and an embarrassed yelp and hid under the blanket before he could see you like this. Loki didn’t hide fast enough. Thor just looked at him and started laughing. “What did you do?” he roared in laughter.

“A spell backfired,” Loki replied sourly. He climbed out of bed to go face down his brother, who was now towering over Loki.

“And where is your darling soulbond?” Thor’s laughter continued.

“Don’t Thor-” Loki started, but he was pushed aside by the much bigger Thor. Thor pulled the covers back. You admittedly had not picked a good hiding spot, but you hadn’t had a lot of time either. You looked up at him with tears in your eyes, mostly from embarrassment. You didn’t want him to see you like this. you didn’t want anyone to see you like this.

“Loki...” Thor started.

“It was a mistake. The spell went wrong,” Loki protested. “I was trying to find a reversal spell for it when you came barging in,” he grumbled.

“I better take you two to Mother. Maybe she can sort you out,”

“No!” you shrieked, grabbing for the blankets again.

“Shh, little princess,” Thor replied kindly. “Spells go wrong around here all the time. Usually not with such adorable results. No one will think anything bad about you, especially when it is his fault,” you still sniffled and tried to avoid going with him. Unfortunately, it was Thor you were dealing with. Not going with him wasn’t an option. His solution to everything was to pick up the offending person and put them where they needed to be. And he was just so nice about it that you couldn’t do anything about it either. He grabbed Loki around the waist before he could escape and held him under one arm. He held you against his chest, cradled in his other arm. “Come along children,” he laughed and left Loki’s suite. Loki grumbled, since he was held rather uncomfortably. You just hid your face in Thor’s tunic and prayed no one recognized you. That was a useless prayer, though. “Mother, I found the troublesome children,” Thor announced as he entered the breakfast room where Frigga was waiting. He set Loki on his feet in the breakfast room and held him by the back of the tunic so he couldn’t run off.

“Oh dear,” Frigga exclaimed. “What happened?” she directed her question to Loki, who scuffed his foot against the floor and refused to look at her. She smiled fondly. “Loki, darling, I can’t help you fix it, if you don’t tell you what happened.” This sounded like a conversation that happened quite a lot when Loki was younger. Thor let Loki go, now that Frigga had Loki’s attention. He wouldn’t run from her. So Thor settled in one of the breakfast chairs with you cuddled in his lap. You had the feeling he was enjoying this a little too much, since he didn’t have any younger siblings or kids around anymore. Loki explained what had happened with the spell that went wrong. Frigga summoned a book and the two of them poured over it at the table. She seemed to enjoy the trip down memory lane too. You just wanted this over. You hated this whole situation. It was especially uncomfortable since they hadn’t been your family when you were a kid, so this whole thing was just embarrassing.

“Don’t worry, little sister. They will get this sorted out,” Thor told you gently. Loki and Frigga spent the rest of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon looking for a spell that would work. They tried spell after spell, but nothing seemed to work, until a couple hours after lunch when they finally stumbled upon the one that worked. With a poof of green and gold magic, they managed to reverse the spell. You blushed and scrambled off of Thor’s lap when you were back to normal.

The three of them laughed about the incident and how ridiculous Loki looked as an eleven year old again. You were almost grateful they were ignoring you. You wrapped your arms over your chest, even more embarrassed that you was standing in the breakfast room in front of the queen in your pajamas, which happened to only be one of Loki’s tunics, which was only barely not showing your underpants. “Lo, a little help?” you asked. He looked over at you and you saw him blush purple when he realized what you were wearing. Thor had looked over to see what the problem was and immediately decided that the spot on the floor between his feet was extremely interesting and needed his undivided attention. You would have laughed if you weren’t so embarrassed. Loki pulled you into his arms, turning you so you were shielded from the room as he used magic to change your outfit for you to one of your own tunics and a pair of black leggings. “Thanks,” you murmured, still hiding in his arms. You saw Thor still staring at the floor and laughed. “Thor, it’s safe now,” you told him, still giggling.

“Thank you for the assistance, Mother,” Loki told Frigga.

“Yes, thank you, Lady Mother,” you added.

She gave Loki a fond smile. “Anytime, dears.”

You were relieved when you could finally escape.

“That was so embarrassing!” you whined at Loki the second you were safely out of earshot.

He chuckled. “I’m sorry, darling,”

“Your mother and brother did not need to see what I looked like at 8, or what I wear to bed...” you grumbled. You knew you were still really red from blushing and just wanted to hide under the blankets for the rest of the day and try to forget any of that had happened.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, sounding actually sincere this time, no hint of jokes. “I will make it up to you, I promise.”

You did hide in your suite for most of the rest of the day. You also forbade him from reading the book that had caused all of this trouble until at least tomorrow. He laughed, but didn’t try to read that particular book again that day.


	21. Chapter 21

"Darling, wake up," Loki bid you early the next morning.

"Loki, it's early," you grumbled at him and tried to snuggle closer against him to go back to sleep.

"I know it is, but I have a surprise for you," he told you softly. You opened your eyes at that.

"A good surprise?" you asked him warily. One never knew with a silver-tongued Trickster boyfriend.

"I certainly think so, though you will probably grumble at me for not telling you I was doing this sooner," he admitted.

You sat up at that. It was too early for such flowery language. Or whatever he was up to. “Loki, what'd you do?" you asked him, truly concerned with how excited he was looking over this plan at whatever gods’ cursed hour this was.

Loki grinned his Cheshire cat grin at you in reply.That wasn’t reassuring. "You’ll see," he replied.

You sighed. That meant this was either going to be _really_ fun, or _really_ terrible. There was no middle ground. "Tell me it'll be fun at least," you begged, unsure that you could handle a terrible day.

"It will be fun," he agreed, but you caught the tone of mischief in his voice and the glint in his eyes. You resigned yourself to a day _he_ thought was fun and you would hate.

At least you could wear a simple dress that morning. He had set one out for you. You still couldn't wait to get your magic back so you could dress yourself with magic. You hated relying on him and being without your powers again. There was a knock on the suite door just as you had finished tying your hair into a simple knot at the back of your head, leaving the one strand of raven hair loose to frame your face. "That's for you," Loki told you, indicating the suite door.

You gave him a look, but went to go answer it. Frigga, Sif, and Astrid, one of the warrior women who had become your friend, were waiting outside for you. "Happy birthday!" they bid you brightly. You looked over your shoulder at Loki. Your birthday wasn't for another couple of weeks, which he damn well knew.

"Loki told us that the calendars do not quite add up right between Midgard and here," Frigga explained at your obviously confused expression. "He chose today as the closest logical day to celebrate your birthday. It also appears that he did not tell you," she added with a smile.

"Trickster, you are a creature made entirely of silliness," you told Loki as he came up next to you.

"Mischief and chaos," he corrected with a fond smile at the old tease.

"I'm not seeing a difference," you told him and stuck your tongue out at him.

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss your cheek. "I will see you later, darling. The girls insisted on stealing you away for something feminine this morning," Loki told you with a smile.

"You can join us!" Astrid laughed at him. "I've seen you at balls before," she continued laughing. Even Sif laughed at that and Frigga smiled. Loki used to shapeshift into a female and go to balls that way just for laughs.Or because she felt like it since Loki was genderfluid.

"I will let you ladies have your fun today," he replied with an elegant bow.

Sif and Astrid took your arms and the four of you left the royal wing together.You ended up in a section of the palace you had never been to, near the healing wing. You found out that it was a full-service spa. The morning was spent with pampering and girl talk. Frigga even told you embarrassing stories of Thor and Loki from when they were kids and Astrid told stories about her boyfriend in the royal guard. They were talking of having the soulbond ceremony after the traditional year of courtship. Naturally, you had to ask all about him. You hadn't done this kind of girls' outing before, but it was so natural and fun that the awkwardness quickly dissipated.

You left the spa in excellent spirits and more formal dresses. Even Astrid, though she was still armed to the teeth. You still had your dagger sheath too. You didn't go anywhere without it, and it was perfectly common and expected on Asgard to walk around armed. You _did_ have to wear your tiara, though, which was a new experience. You met up with your significant others right outside the palace. You and Sif cheered when Astrid greeted her boyfriend with a kiss. She gave you a rude gesture in reply, which made you all laugh, though Frigga had to pretend to scold her for it.

"You look ravishing, darling," Loki told you as he offered you his arm in formal escort position.

You placed your hand on it as per usual, the gesture automatic. "Thank you," you accepted the compliment today, especially since the nice ladies in the spa had done so much work to make you extra pretty. Even if they had complained about the illogical lock of raven-black hair. You had to explain it to them multiple times before they'd agreed to leave it alone, though they should’ve known what a lovelock was.They were just being persnickety. You had a feeling Loki and you would be re-starting a fashion trend with the lovelock soon...

You went out to the palace gardens where an elaborate flower-viewing was set up. There was all sorts of food and tables set around the garden. Astrid broke off once you reached the rest of the court who were gathered in the garden. The procession of the royals made your way up to a platform overlooking one of the gardens. Loki led you to the front so you could get a good view at whatever was going to happen.

A bell chimed and suddenly the flowers in the garden you were looking over all began to bloom at the same time. It was absolutely breathtaking to watch. The flowers all opened, revealing petals of the same magenta-red color as your hair. "They are called sigynite flowers," Loki whispered into your ear. "They only bloom one day a year,"

"They're gorgeous," you replied, staring in rapture over the flowers, trying to fix in your memory exactly how they looked.

Loki chuckled. "There is one preserved in our suite for you, Sigyn," he whispered in your ear.You rolled your eyes at his use of your superhero alias, which was apparently also derived from the name of the flowers.

"Sigyn?" Sif asked as you took your seats for the lunch that came with the flower viewing.

You laughed, apparently she had really good hearing to have heard Loki’s question.“You're getting you back for 'Lo' aren't you?" you asked Loki, who tried to look innocent. He failed. Miserably. you turned back to Sif to explain. "Back on Midgard, many of those of us with powers fight crime and villains with powers. Generally we don't want people to know our real names, since it can put our loved ones in danger, so everyone on the team has a superhero name. Sigyn is mine,"

"So Loki chose the day of the sigynite flower blooming for your birthday," Sif finished. You nodded your agreement and laughed over your silly Trickster boyfriend. You had a nice lunch with your Asgardian family. There would also be a formal ball and feast that evening. In the meantime, your family gave you birthday presents. You hadn't been expecting anything from them, even after they had announced it was your birthday today.

Thor gave you a tome that was a famous fantasy series in Asgard. "Thanks Thor!” you told him in glee. Loki had to take it from your hands before you started reading it and ignoring the rest of your presents. Sif gave you a beautiful necklace, which Loki helped you put on immediately. It was a simple, but gorgeous diamond. "Thank you," you told her with a real smile. You had a feeling that it, like the bracelet Loki had given you on your 18th birthday wasn't going to be taken off often, if ever. It was so pretty, but simple enough to be an everyday item. Sif was obviously relieved that you like it. Frigga, though she had said it was from Odin too, gave you a box to unwrap. Odin had left after lunch to go do work. You opened the box curiously, wondering what the queen would have gotten you for your birthday. Inside was a little handmade cloth doll. It was beautiful and extremely well made. She even had magenta-red hair and the same blue eyes that your were usually. "She's beautiful," you saw in awe as you lifted the little doll out of the box. you saw Sif's eyes widen at it when she realized what it was.

"You did not grow up here, and my children were all boys, so Loki would not have told you the tradition, and you would not have had one of these dolls growing up,” Frigga started. You looked away from the doll to give her your attention. "When a daughter is born, her mother will give her a handmade doll in the daughter's likeness. The vision-seers aid with that aspect of course. The doll is a symbol of a mother's love as well as a constant companion for the girl as she grows."

"You made her?" you asked, your voice full of emotion and tears of joy in your eyes. She nodded with a smile. You didn't have words to thank her with. All you could do was go to her and give her a hug. "I will cherish her forever," you finally found words that might, might be enough.

"You are welcome, daughter. I give her to you in love, and with admiration for how wonderful you are for my Loki. I have never seen him so happy as you have when he is with you."

You thanked them all again for the wonderful presents and the wonderful birthday.

"It is not over yet, darling," Loki reminded you. You stared at the beautiful flowers for a little longer before you all went in to your own matters until dinner that evening. You headed back to our suite to relax until dinner. You set the doll from Frigga on your bedside table next to the sigynite flower Loki had in a vase there. Loki pulled out a box when you had settled on the couch.

"Loki, you didn't have to get me anything!" you protested. Your real birthday wasn't for a couple of weeks, plus you didn't expect anything anyway.

"Yes, I did," he replied with a smile as he handed you the box. You smiled at his silliness and carefully opened the box. Inside was a gorgeous silver charm bracelet with a bunch of charms on it. He helped you put it on. "Hold one of the charms," he bid you softly. You picked one at random and held it in your other hand.

_You were standing in a memory of two years ago. You and Lokiwere on the stairs up to your suites in the tower, ending a conversation with your uncle. "I have to go to work. Can you two try to behave?" Tony grumbled, mostly looking at you. You raised your hands in surrender._

_"Fury already threatened me with chains until The Harlequin is dealt with. Don't worry, Tony, there will be no trouble for me," you told him with as much sincerity as you could muster. "I'll even promise to stay out of the science lab." He rolled his eyes, but gave you a hug goodbye and a threat to Loki before he went to work._

_"That threat lacked punch," Loki commented as you walked up the stairs together. "He did not even threaten me with death this time," he mused._

_"Maybe he's starting to like you," you told him with a grin._

_"I highly doubt that. He does not like that I spend time with you," he reminded you._

_"He's my uncle. That's what they do," you replied._

_"What does he think will happen?" Loki asked when you reached the floor that your rooms were on. You gave him a mischievous grin, which made him pause just long enough._

_"This," you replied, standing up on your toes to place a light, timid kiss on his lips. You darted away quickly while he stood there shocked. You didn't stay to see his reaction, you didn't want to see disappointment or anger, or any other of a dozen emotions. You didn't know what his reaction would be, if he would want it or not. You were willing to play it off as a joke to save your friendship if that's what it took. Instead, you felt a hand wrap around your arm and spin you to face him. It was Loki, of course. He let go of your arm, but wrapped an arm around your waist. He held you to him pressed against his cool body. He held you lightly, though, and you knew you could break away without any real effort._

_"If you are going to do that, darling, you should at least do it properly," he purred as he pushed your hair away from your face._

_"I don't know how to do it properly," you whispered. You’d never been kissed before._

_"Then allow me to demonstrate," he purred. He hesitated and looked into your eyes. "Unless you do not wish do. I will not kiss you against your will. I will not force you into a relationship," he said softly, gently. _

_You nodded, though you couldn't tear your gaze from his. "I want this," you whispered. He leaned down and kissed you. He tasted of cool mint and a crisp winter's day. Your heart fluttered with his cool lips, firm, but gentle against yours as he held you to him. He broke the kiss after a long minute and set you gently back on your feet. You smiled giddily up at him. "That was definitely the proper way to do that," you finally told him. He grinned._

_"I am glad my lady is pleased," he replied._

The memory vision ended. You just looked at him in awe. "They're all memories?" you asked.

Loki nodded. "All of them are memories," he replied with a soft smile. "However, I would not play with the red one today. It is a difficult memory, though the outcome led to come pleasant side effects," he absently touched the soulbond marks on his arm and you nodded your understanding.

"It's wonderful. Thank you!" you told him. You wrapped your arms around him to kiss him. A lot. And you didn't do much else besides enjoy kisses and each other's company until you had to go to dinner and the ball.

Both were elaborate extremely formal events, but dancing the night away with Loki was amazing. You had gained the knowledge of all of the court dances through the soulbond, and had secretly practiced the moves so you wouldn't look like an idiot when you came back to Asgard. You surprised Loki with the grace you had managed to earn through that practice.

It was nearly dawn when the ball ended. You were both exhausted and grinning and it was such a wonderful not-a-birthday.


	22. Chapter 22

You woke late the next morning. It was so nice to wake curled up with Loki with your head on his chest, that you didn't want to get out of bed. Even though you had things to do. You just didn't want to. At all. So you didn’t.You listened to his heartbeat for awhile, reaching up and running your fingers through his hair while he continued to sleep. 

"It is much harder to pretend to be asleep when you start playing with my hair," Loki commented with a chuckle.He didn’t open his eyes, though, keeping the ruse that much at least. 

"Shh, you're sleeping," you scolded him lightly, trying not to giggle as you did.

He laughed and kissed the top of your head. "I love you," was his only reply.

"I love you too," you smiled up at him and shifted enough that you could kiss him.

"Darling, much as I enjoy this, we _do_ both have things we are supposed to do today," he reminded you after a few kisses.

You sighed and pouted. "But this is so much fun~" you whined, cuddling closer.

He laughed. "If you keep pouting like that you are going to end up with cat ears," he threatened.

"Fine, silly Trickster," you huffed, knowing it was just teasing and he thought the cat ears cute. 

You both climbed out of bed, still laughing. You got dressed quickly for training that morning and looked over your pieces of jewelry, sighing as you had to leave them all behind, even your promise ring from Loki. You were training with the warriors that morning and couldn't bring jewelry. You didn't want it to get damaged anyway. Besides, on Asgard the soulbond marks were more than enough to tell everyone that you were in a very committed relationship.

Loki had work with Thor that morning in the audience chamber, so he wasn’t going to be with you.

You braided your hair down your back out of the way. "Gorgeous as always, darling," Loki told you once you were dressed.

You smiled and gave him a kiss. "I'll see you later," you promised him as Astrid pounded on the suite's door. She was walking with you to training that morning. As one of the training leaders she was plenty guard enough. Even Loki agreed with that. You and Astrid walked down to the training yard together, chatting about light topics, mostly telling stories about the boys.

Training with the warriors was hard, but you held your own. They also did take it easier on you, both because you’d only been training for a year, but you were also human and just didn't have the same physique as they did. It was still difficult work, especially after a few hours of it. You focused on dagger work that day, since daggers were your primary weapon.

Astrid walked you back to your suite after the weapons practice. Loki wasn't back yet from his work. You weren’t really surprised. Court took forever. So you got a shower to wash all the workout sweat off, dried your hair, and dressed in a simple casual blue halter dress. Dresses were so common on Asgard that you were getting really used to wearing them all the time. Before you made it back to your jewelry box, you remembered the soulbond tidbit Loki had been talking about the other day that you wanted to look up in the library and see if you could get more information on it. You still had plenty of time before dinner, so you left Loki a note in case he came back before you got back from the library and headed that way. You was even good and flagged down one of the guards to walk with you. Loki would be so proud.

You waved and smiled and made sure you were generally pleasant to the people you passed in the halls. You also worked really hard on standing tall and pretending to be a princess. The people at least seemed to like you, if only for the reason that Loki was so happy. They all saw a difference in him, you knew.

The guard opened the door to the library for you and scanned the inside for danger before he would let you pass. He held the door open so you could pass. You nodded to him and thanked him for his courtesy. He moved and his handkerchief or something dropped from his hand. You bent down automatically and picked it up, handing it back to him with a smile, only to have him blow some kind of powder in your face.

The world swam around you and turned black as your legs dropped out from under you.


	23. Chapter 23

When you came to, you found that you were lying on something soft. You had a splitting headache and a foggy brain that wasn’t getting better with coming to.You didn't even dare open your eyes, your head hurt so much. It took you a minute to remember what happened and how you had ended up being unconscious.

You were going to kill that guard if Loki didn't beat you to it.

You had a horrible feeling that you knew where you were, or at least who you would find here. Unfortunately, you needed more information, and that involved opening your eyes. That took way more effort than you wanted to admit. The light of the room made the migraine erupt in even more pain behind your eyes. Just what you needed.

When you moved to sit up, so you could take in your surroundings, your next realization was that there were thick manacles on your wrists with only a short length of chain between them.

Great.

This day was just getting worse and worse. 

You finally sat up and took in your surroundings.You were in what appeared to be laying on an admittedly soft couch. Hands grabbed you and helped you into a proper sitting position. You knew how foggy your brain was when you hadn't even noticed the person in the room before they were touching you. "Easy, pet. That powder packs a punch on my people, and you are just a little human." The voice was familiar, too familiar.Why was it familiar?

You focused enough to realize it was Balder.

Of course it was Balder.

You stiffened when you realized it was him. This was bad, so very, very bad. "Shh, little one. You are safe. I am not going to hurt you, unless you make me, of course." You didn't struggle yet. You were outmatched and you knew it and you weren’t that suicidal.You needed a plan in order to even consider going up against him. "I told you that I would come for you. It did take longer than I wished, of course. My brother always has been bad at sharing..." he chuckled at his little joke. It wasn't funny. At all. You weren’t a possession, and Balder had kidnapped you.

Asshole.

You _were_ beginning to wonder, however, why Loki wasn't already beating down the doors of your mind to speak with you telepathically. He usually would have noticed the moment you were conscious again, even if you had no powers to contact him with. He could make the connection without you adding your magic. So why hadn't he?

"Don't fear, pet. My little brother will not find you, even with that soulbond. We are most heavily shielded here." Balder told you, his tone going for reassuring. That was less than reassuring. In fact, it was the opposite of reassuring. He must’ve realized what you were wondering.Of course you’d be wondering when Loki would contact you to rescue you.

You _really_ hated needing rescuing.

He moved quickly to grab your chin. You didn't even think at that. You didn't want him touching you and you reacted on instinct, attempting to bite his hand when he reached for you. It wasn't the best reaction, but you were desperate and couldn't just sit there like a helpless little girl. It was admittedly a stupid move.And one that was an automatic response.

Balder growled at your reaction and slapped you hard across the face. Your head snapped to the side and you could taste blood. He'd somehow split your lip. He grabbed your chin while you were dazed and forced your head back. He looked at your eyes. "Good. There are at least a few more days before you can cause trouble for me," he commented as he let your face go.

In that instant you thanked all the gods that your eyes hadn't turned back all the way. You were safer right now if he thought you couldn't use your powers. Granted, you actually couldn't use your powers, but that was a different problem. Black eyes, aside, you still had the metal bangle on your wrist, plus the manacles had runes on them, so you assumed they had the same function. You were also going to force Tony to put an emergency release in the bangles in the future if they insisted on using them.Supers got kidnapped too often to not have one. 

"Why me?" you croaked. You didn't mind playing up the helpless damsel routine if it could help you. You hadn't been able to make a plan yet, but you were hoping he would underestimate you when you finally figured out how to get out of this mess. You also knew that the first rule of getting kidnapped by supervillains was to get them monologue-ing as quickly as possible. Balder wasn't a human supervillain either, so he might not be aware of the tactic.

He frowned at you and turned his back to you, walking to a small table and chairs nearby to fiddle with something there. Your brain demanded why Loki hadn't contacted you yet. He should've made telepathic contact by now, even if you were shielded. You forced those thoughts away. You couldn't worry about that right now.

You needed a plan. You were a self-rescuing damsel after all.

You scanned the room, looking for anything that might be helpful. It was a rather small living room, only containing the table and chairs that Balder was now standing next to, the couch you were sitting on, and its end tables. There was also only one exit to the room and Balder was between you and it. You’d have to bide your time for now.

Balder came back over to the couch, holding a cup of tea in his hands. "Drink this. It will help," he bid, trying to hand the tea to you. You didn't take it. You just gave him a look. Did he think you were stupid?You weren’t just going to drink something your kidnapper handed you.He huffed and rolled his eyes, but took a drink of the tea before he forced it into your hands. "See? It is perfectly safe. If I wanted you hurt or dead, you would be already. Your death does not help my plans." He was staring at you expectantly.You knew that offending him wouldn't help right now. You didn't have a choice, so you drank the tea, making sure the chain between your wrists clanged pathetically. You realized almost instantly that the tea had some kind of healing potion in it, as your headache cleared at once.

"And what plans are those?" you asked calmly. You still needed to get him monologue-ing. You couldn't figure out how to stop him if you didn't know what he was up to.

"Why, I am going to rule Asgard and Midgard, of course," he replied as if that was obvious. "And you, pet, are going to help me. Whether you want to or not."

That sounded ominous.

You needed to get out of there ASAP.


	24. Chapter 24

"Why me?" you asked Balder, trying to keep your voice calm. You’d trained for situations like this.You’d worked with and grew up around the Avengers.You knew what you were doing.You had to get him talking, but you couldn't let him get angry while he was doing it.You had to convince him that telling you was what he wanted to do.It was tricky work and Nat taught workshops on it, which you’d diligently attended well before you got your powers.

Balder was a much more physically strong than you were, especially when you were without your magic, and you really didn't want to get hit again.It wouldn’t do well for you ability to think your way out of this mess. 

The tea wasn't helping with the swelling and bruise from the hit to your face, or your split lip.It was only marginally dulling the pain.

"I _did_ just think you were a little human pet your brother had gotten fond of, at first," Balder started, as if he didn't still think you was just a little human. Hell, right now you _were_ just a little human. "But he had bound his soul to yours, so I thought there must be something special about his pet. You are the strongest... super you call them?... that I have ever seen, and trust me, I have met plenty on my journeys. You have gotten even stronger since my darling baby brother shared his powers with you. Once I bind my soul to you as well, then I will not only have all of my powers, and your powers, but also my brother's," he explained. You just stared at him in shocked horror. This was bad. And impossible? You’d never heard of such a thing as a double soul bond.“Of course, things will go so much better for you if you join me willingly. You would be a queen, little pet," he ran a hand over your cheek. The same cheek he had already hit once.You fought not to flinch at his touch, as much as it made your skin crawl. 

You made another stupid-ass decision that you weren’t quite in control of as you acted on instinct and spat in his face. It was extremely satisfying in that moment, especially when he was disgusted by the blood in the spit that hit him in the face. "I'll never be your 'little pet'," you hissed at him with venom in your voice.

Balder sighed over-dramatically, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to clean his face. "You will change your mind," he told you, sounding really sure on that particular point.That had you concerned. "And I am benevolent and will forgive you when you do. In the meantime, I do have a couple things to show you,"

He reached for you to haul you to your feet. You let him do so, let him take your weight and reached up as he did, grabbing him by the tunic, as if to steady yourself. A moment later, you drove your knee into his manhood as hard as you possibly could. He threw you away from him as he howled in pain. He thought you’d been to weak to consider such an action.You reached automatically for your dagger sheath, but it was gone.

Shit.

You rolled to your feet anyway, looking for anything you could use as a weapon. Balder recovered too quickly and rushed you. You tried to get out of the way, but he was too fast and despite all your training, you were outmatched. He grabbed the chain between your wrists and held it above your head against one of the walls, holding you off of your feet. He held up your dagger sheath in his other hand, holding it tauntingly as you squirmed to get free to no avail."You do not need claws, little kitten, you are too much trouble without them. But I found that my brother enchanted this little token well. If it strays too far from you, it will teleport itself back to your possession." That was good to know and could come in handy later. "Come, I have a gift for you, pet," he bid. He set you back on your feet, his hand still firmly around the chain between your wrists. He took off quickly and you had to stumble to keep up so you didn't get dragged behind him.

He dragged you through the mansion you were in and you struggled to keep up with his long stride. So much so that you couldn’t focus on anything else.You ended up in a vault that he had to unlock to enter. "I have been collecting powers for a long time now. Some have been given up willingly, others...not so much, but I have the perfect one to gift you with." That sounded ominous. You struggled against him, but his grip was too tight and wasn’t loosening. The vault you were in had an entire wall that was filled with shelves and shelves of different colored glowing spheres. There was a hook in the wall across from the glowing spheres that was perfectly positioned so that when he flipped the chain between your wrists over it, you were forced to stand on your toes to keep contact with the ground. "I will gift you with other powers, when you decide to join me, but for now..." he wandered the wall of spheres and pulled one that was a glowing sickly lime green color. You realized that all of the spheres were powers he had 'collected'. There must have been at least a hundred in that room. "This one will be perfect, and my darling brother will not want you any longer once you have it," he added as he came back over to you.

You tried to get away, tried to get the chain off of the hook on the wall. You knew whatever he was doing, it would be bad. Really bad.

But it was no use, there was no escaping without your powers.

He placed the sphere against your chest and whispered a couple of words so softly that there was no chance that you could hear them. The sphere flashed, then disappeared into your chest. You opened your mouth to protest, but he clapped a hand over your mouth. "I would not do that," he warned. He gestured to one of the servants in the room. "You would not want to kill the poor staff here. That power lets you knock people out with the slightest whisper, or kill of course. It can also break glass, I have heard. The poor girl who had it before you did not want it, because it cannot be controlled or stopped. It is, however, also completely ineffective on me, since all of these powers have attuned to me since I have taken control of them. Don't believe me? Whisper hello to that nice man," he gestured to the servant.

You couldn't help it. You had to know. So you did as you were told as another servant also walked into the room. You whispered a hello and both servants collapsed to the ground, blood leaking form their ears.

You felt the tears running down your cheeks before you even realized that you were crying.

"You will never be able to tell my brother again that you love him. He is such a hopeless romantic that he will not be able to stand never hearing your voice again. He will not want you, pet. Give up on him now. He will give you up, but I never will, little pet," he whispered, as if that was romantic or something.It was abhorrently disgusting and you wanted to puke.

You were still in shock and horror when he dragged you from the room and down to the basement where he had a small dungeon-like room set up. "I will be back for you, pet, and see how long it takes you to come to your senses," He tossed you in the room and slammed the door behind you. The room was bare save for a cot-like bed and a toilet. The walls were made of solid cinder blocks, except for the heavy metal door that had slammed behind you. There was a tiny window up too high and too small to be of any use and a small window in the heavy metal door. Balder left immediately.

You sank on the bed and couldn't help sobbing hopeless tears.


	25. Chapter 25

You allowed yourself the tears, the heartbreak, the hopelessness. You allowed yourself the grief, if only for a little while. You only had a little while to grieve.You had a shit ton of work to do if you were going to find a way out of this. You only had your wits to work with right now.

You were doomed.

You shook those thoughts away. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be. So you laid on the bed and closed your eyes. You had a small semblance of an idea. At least a starting place on where to look for a plan. You hadn't gotten only Loki's powers through the soulbond, you also got all of his learning and years of study. There might be something in all of that knowledge and study that would help you now.

You took inventory of what you had to work with. You couldn't use your powers or Loki's while your powers were bound. You needed to get Balder to take the manacles off. That would take some lying. You could handle a little lying. You had gotten better at it in your time knowing Loki too, he was known for having a silver tongue for a reason as well as being the god of lies. You needed to make the lie convincing, though. That would take more work...

You also had the soulbond. There was power in the soulbond itself, you knew, and it didn't follow the same rules as your natural abilities, or the abilities you had gained from Loki. You rummaged through the information you had at your disposal, looking for anything you and Loki had studied about the soulbond that might help. You noticed that new pieces of information were being added and you smiled. Loki was researching the soulbond too. You tried to reach him through it, to touch those new pieces of information as they were added, to let him know you were there, but you couldn't reach. You needed some kind of catalyst to boost the signal enough for him to make the connection. He couldn't find you through the shielding to make the connection on his end and you couldn't make the reach without boosting the soulbond.

How to make the boost...

Your thoughts were interrupted when a servant burst in to the room and brought you a tray of food. You automatically thanked them. Thank all the gods that you only murmured it. That didn’t stop him from ending up on the ground, unconscious. Two other servants dragged the first one out of the room while glaring at you. You just clapped your hands over your mouth horrified at what you’d done.

You had to be more careful.

You were left for days or longer in that cell. You lost track of time way too quickly. Balder occasionally came to visit.You guessed it was once a day. He always wanted to see if you were willing to join his side yet. You kept finding different ways of telling him to go away and leave you alone. You were avoiding telling him to fuck off. You didn't want to give him any ideas. You don't know how he was doing it, but he was also forcibly draining your magical energy when he came to visit. You knew you were a disgusting mess. You hadn't bathed since he kidnapped you. He kept promising you would be treated like a queen the second you gave in and joined him. He was torturing you until then.

Asshole.

You desperately needed to get out of that cell soon.

You rifled through every piece of information and knowledge and learning that Loki had given you, ever piece of learning you had gained through your own studies. Something had to be able to boost the signal of the soulbond, something had to let you get through the shields, through the powerblocks.

Then you got the answer. It was arcane magic and something that Loki wasn't supposed to have studied. Frigga would be disappointed to learn he had anyway. You were just grateful for the knowledge right that moment. The answer was stupidly simple.

Blood.

Blood could boost the power of magic. It was unethical to use someone else's blood without their consent of course, but that wasn't necessary now. You just had to figure out where to get the blood you needed. Your split lip had long since healed and it wouldn't be logical to bang your face up more to reopen it, plus that would be even more obvious what you were up to. After searching the room, you managed to find a loose screw in the bed-frame. That would do.

You laid on the bed with your back to the door as you steeled your nerves for this. It was going to suck, but it was the only way. You needed help and you needed magic to make the lie convincing. This lie had to be the most convincing one that was ever told. You had to make Balder believe you without any doubts.

But where to make the cut? You was limited on where you could reach because of the manacles on your wrists. You finally decided on your left arm, near the soulbond marks, where you could make it look like you slipped and fell and cut your arm on the bed-frame or something. It was difficult with only a screw, but you managed, and smeared your blood over the soulbond. You felt the power in the soulbond pulse and flare. _Loki!_ you thought down that pulse as loudly as you could.

You felt his telepathic presence in your mind an instant later. /Finally! I couldn't find you, my darling. Are you alright?/

_Is the connection secure? _you asked him, thinking the ASL signs for the words instead of the words. You couldn't risk your request being overheard by another telepath. No one in Asgard besides Loki knew ASL.

/It is secure. No one can overhear us/ Loki reassured you quickly so you didn’t have to work so hard to answer him.You sighed in relief. That made this a _lot_ easier /Are you alright?/ he repeated.

_I'm not injured_ you told him truthfully. _But I need help. _You wished you had proper magic, as sending telepathic messages without proper telepathy was much more difficult.

/I still cannot sense where you are/ Loki growled across the connection.

_I know. Balder said this place is really well shielded. So you can't even find me through the soulbond. I'm going to have to get out of here on my own._

/I'll come find you, love/ He promised.

_You can't, not until I at least get out of this building. _You reminded him of what you’d literally just said.

/You said you need help?/ He asked, knowing you wouldn’t have long.At least he got back on topic.

_My powers are bound. I need to trick Balder into unbinding them and I need a couple of illusions for that. _You explained to Loki quickly. 

/What illusions do you need?/ You hesitated and couldn't believe that you was asking this of him. This was going to hurt him so much for you to ask. /Just tell me what it is, darling. I will do anything to get you out of there safely/ Of course he could feel your emotions across the bond and knew you were upset about asking.

So you told him the two illusions you needed. They were in place instantly.

/I cannot hold the connection. Whatever you did to boost the signal past the shields is fading. I promise we are all looking for you. Is there anything, anything you can see that might help us?/ Loki asked, desperation in his voice.

You stood up on the bed to look out the tiny window. _There's snow outside. That's all I can see._

/That's a help. There are not many places with snow this time of year. We will find you, and I will kill that idiot brother of mine/

_Whatever happens, whatever you may overhear, please, do not believe a word I say after this: I love you. _you told him as you felt the connection fizzle away. You prayed that you had gotten enough of his silver tongue to pull this off.

You steeled yourself, going over your plan again and again while you waited for Balder to come back. This would have to be the best act you’d ever done and the best lies that ever came out of your mouth. There would be no second chances, no room for any doubt, and Balder would have to believe every word that came out of your mouth. So you went over your lines and your plan again and again and again, until you heard his ever so polite knock on the metal door.

Showtime.


	26. Chapter 26

Balder came into the room without waiting for your reply. It was what he did every time. He was expecting you to be on the bed ignoring him. That had been your latest tactic in getting him to go away and leave you alone. It hadn’t been any more successful than any of your other attempts.

He was _not_ expecting you to run up to him sobbing. You tried to wrap your arms around him, and purposely clanged the chain between your wrists into his stomach, trying to look the part of the pathetic little human. You had never tried to cry on demand before, but you had enough painful memories to take your pick from right now that you managed to call the tears you needed for this act. 

Balder hesitated for a moment, as if he didn't want to trust your sudden mood change, but he responded soon when your tears didn't stop. When you made yourself the most pathetic helpless version of yourself as you could. You curled your hands up to your chest, and though it pained you to let him to it, you let him wrap his arms around you and pull you too him as he made soothing noises. "Shh, pet. Why are you crying?" he asked softly. You sobbed awhile longer, until he stepped back, holding you at arm's distance. "What happened? What is wrong?"

You held out your arm to him, sniffling and showed him the first of the two illusions Loki had made for you. This one had been the hardest illusion request, too, but the most vital to your plan. It had killed you to ask Loki to make it look like he had broken the soulbond. The soulbond marks on your arm had an illusion on them to make them look like they were all gray and dead.

Balder's eyes widened and you put on the most heartbroken, pathetic, expression you could muster. "Did my brother do this?" He asked gently, oh so kindly. His false kindness made you want to puke.

You nodded, not bothering to elaborate. The less you had to speak, the more likely he was to believe the lie. He pulled you back into his arms. You thought you saw a glimmer of a smirk on his face. "I warned you that he would turn on you," he said as he held you gently while you faked more heartbroken sobs. It was easier when your face was hidden against his chest.

"I-I'm sorry," you whimpered against his chest. You cursed that power again for the fact that he was the only one it didn't work against.

He shh-ed you gently and rubbed your back. "I know, pet, I know he confused you. Now let's get you out of here and properly taken care of," he said so softly and gently, like he actually cared. You knew better. He was a creepy asshole and you had no idea how Frigga had raised someone who turned out like this. 

You sniffled, and nodded, relieved he was buying the act so far. He turned you to lead you from the basement. You let him walk you back upstairs and tried to memorize where the doors to the outside were as you walked. You stayed hunched in on yourself, the epitome of pathetic-little-heartbroken-human.

Balder kept trying to comfort you the entire time, though it didn’t do any good.

You ended in a large, lavish bedroom on the second floor of the mansion. "I told you I would take care of you, little pet," he told you as you pretended to be impressed with the room. Sure, it was fancy, but he was creepy and evil. "You're going to be good, now that you have nowhere else to go, right, pet?" he asked, trying to sound gentle and kind. His words came off creepier than ever.You nodded and looked pathetic.He removed the manacles from your wrists, taking care of one of your obstacles. You rubbed your sore, raw wrists. "There is a nice hot bath waiting for you," he gestured to a side room that you assumed must be a bathroom. "We will get those wrists healed up when you are clean and feeling like yourself again," His words sounded nice, but you knew that you were just disgusting from having not bathed since he kidnapped you. You nodded and stepped towards the bathroom and closed the door firmly behind you.

You soaked in the bath for a long time, trying to make sure you had your next moves planned and set in stone. You still needed to get the bangle off of your arm. Your powers were still bound until you did. You also needed to get out of here before he tried to force a soulbond on you. You didn't have a lot of time.

You had an idea if you couldn't get to your dagger sheath soon, though.You just hoped it didn’t come to that.

You finally left the bath once you were clean and you knew Balder would be getting impatient soon. You couldn't hide in there forever. So you got out of the bath and found a simple shift of a dress waiting for you. You grumbled that he could at least have given you a real dress, but you wouldn't complain where he could hear. You ran a comb through your hair and shyly left the bathroom to find Balder waiting in the bedroom. You weren't surprised to see him there. He was sitting at a small table and chairs in the room. The table was laden with food. He gestured for you to sit at the other chair, but didn't get up from his. It was such a contrast to both Loki's and Thor's behaviors and manners, that you wondered briefly why he had turned out so differently from them. You hesitated, scared and shy, but he bid you again to sit with him. You took the seat. "Eat, pet," he told you in a tone that was supposed to be gentle. You carefully made a small plate of food, despite the fact that you were starving. You were treating this like the most terrifying first date ever. He dug into his own overflowing plate of food while you were much more careful, trying to seem dainty and lady-like. It was hard and you were terrified he would see through your act.

After he had eaten his fill, he came over to you with a healing salve, which he put on your wrists and the last of the healing bruise on your face. All three healed instantly.

You were also grateful to your wonderful Trickster of a soulbond. Loki had crafted the illusion on the soulbond marks well. Illusions generally couldn't be touched, but these were such thin lines that Balder's finger would cover the entire line if he tried to touch the illusion, and the illusion would just bounce back into place the moment he stopped touching it. He wouldn't be able to see that it was an illusion.

When Balder was healing your face, he took the opportunity to look at your eyes. This was the other illusion from Loki. Your eyes looked to be as jet black as they had been the day you saved Pepper’s life. "What happened to your eyes, pet?" Balder asked.

You whimpered softly. "Loki," you whimpered. "When he-" you gestured to your left arm and the gray soulbond marks.

"He stole your power," Balder filled in, making the assumption you had wanted him to. You looked away, embarrassed. The trick to a good lie was to tell the truth. Loki did do this to your eyes, at the same time as he made the illusion on your arm. Balder just came to the wrong conclusion of how and why. He would believe the lie because he was the one who told it. He sighed. Whatever his plans for today were, they were now ruined by your jet black eyes. "Go take a nap, pet. You need to rest before you can help me with my plans,"

He used magic to clear the table and swept from the room. You heard him talking to a guard outside of it.

You weren't surprised he wasn't leaving you completely alone. You went to the other room and laid on the bed, which was admittedly soft. You was sorely tempted to actually take that nap and get some rest, but you needed to make more plans.

Things were going as planned so far, but it wasn’t any time to let your guard down.


	27. Chapter 27

It was something that Balder had mentioned while he was talking about the power he had 'gifted' you that aided you in coming up with the next part of your plan. He said the power could break glass. If it was possible to break glass with it, perhaps it could break little electrical circuits in a metal bangle.

Perhaps.

So you spoke, you sang, you whistled, trying anything you could think of to get the stupid bangle to break. You were going to kill Tony for creating the stupid thing if you ever got out of this mess. You wished for your dagger sheath. You thought that if you had it, you could summon a dagger that could cut through the metal. Loki had commented before that your daggers were of good quality. You thought that meant you’d be able to summon any kind of dagger you wanted.

It was also supposed to teleport back to you, but Balder had to be keeping it close enough that that power wasn’t activated.

You had one more attempt before you went looking for your dagger sheath, which would be _way_ more dangerous and obvious if Balder caught you at it. You crawled up on the table where you had had lunch with Balder and shrieked the highest, loudest, damsel in distress shriek you had ever heard, much less produced. You hoped your plan would work and you wouldn’t get caught.

You grinned when it _did _work. You heard the sizzle of electricity in the bangle and when you felt for your powers, they were there. You tried to teleport out of there instantly, but the building was too heavily shielded.

Balder came crashing into the room. "What happened?" he demanded, glaring at you. There was a reason you were up on the table. You pointed at the wall in apparent hysteria, Your grin gone the second you realized you couldn't teleport.

"There was a mouse!" you exclaimed, leaping off the table to go hug him for safety. "It was there and ran across there," you pointed, making up a fake path for the fake mouse.

Balder just laughed at you. "The most powerful human in existence is terrified of a mouse?" he chuckled. "You are an entertaining little pet." You were relieved he had bought the act. "Come, you can hide in the vault with me from the big scary mouse," he bid you gently, still laughing.

You went with him, your brain reeling in the effort of coming up with plans. You had to get outside of the shields to use any proper magic. You noticed as we were walking that all of the servants were now wearing headphones or earplugs. Good idea on their part.

When you arrived, you investigated the wall of magic spheres, eyeing them curiously. Balder didn't seem to care what you were doing as long as you were quiet and stayed out of his way. You grabbed one of the spheres and vanished it when he wasn't looking or paying attention to you. You, Loki, and Frigga, could study it later, after you had gotten out of this place. You were so close to escaping. You just needed a little more patience and an opportunity.

Your opportunity for more research came when you put on the bored, lonely expression that Balder had commented on seeing too often on Loki's face and started to pace, then wander. Balder didn't notice. You kept yourself from grinning. You had gambled right that he would've been so used to Loki acting the same way growing up that he hadn't even noticed you slipping off. So you investigated the mansion, looking for anything you could use. There were too many servants watching the doors. You couldn't make a run for it. You’d be caught before you got past the shields. You definitely could _not_ be caught. If you were caught, Balder would make sure you never got another chance to attempt to escape.

You only had one chance to escape. You had to do it properly.

"Pet? Where did you wander off to?" Balder asked awhile later.

You had gotten a stupid crazy idea, but it was just crazy enough that it might work, if not, you had set it up well enough that he couldn't easily suspect that you were behind it. You laid the foundation for it while you were searching the mansion, pretending to tour your new home.

Balder found you in a small room with books after he called for you. It wasn't really a library, but would be irresistible to a bored bookworm. "Of course," he sighed when he found you, curled up in a comfortable chair with a book. "Come, pet. Time for dinner."

You set the book aside and followed him to a dining room. There were too many servants around during dinner, so you thankfully got to eat in silence. Balder didn't want you knocking them all out.

You made a big show of yawning and looking half-asleep by the end of dinner. That was normal for having power drained like you supposedly had, so Balder wasn't even surprised. He just told you to go to bed. You did as you were told so you could put your plan into action. The seed was set.

It just needed a spark, so to speak.

A literal spark in this case.


	28. Chapter 28

You laid on the bed realizing how very very stupid you were. You were a complete moron, queen of moronville, and how on Earth had you come up with this crazy idiotic plan? It really _had_ seemed like a good plan at the time. It was actually quite a good plan. But that still didn't mean that you weren't a moron for it. There was no choice, though. It was your only chance of getting outside the shields without causing suspicion.

That did not make you any less dumb.

Or any less desperate.

You waited awhile longer, until the sun had set. Then you set your plan into motion, cursing yourself for your incredibly stupid plan. You had left a spark of your magical fire under the main stove in the kitchen when the servants weren't looking. You threw power into it now, blasting it into a full fire, including a rather nice explosion that set fire to other parts of the mansion.

You kept having to tell yourself as you grew and grew the flames that this was _your_ fire. This was not the fire of all those years ago, this was not the fire from the night your parents died when you were 13. Just because you were in a bed with the mansion going up in flames around you did not mean this was the fire from then.You had to calm your breathing and fight back flashbacks from the other fire. 

You did mention you were dumb for this plan.

Especially when it was causing a panic attack from the PTSD you had of the other fire.

You were pretending to be asleep when Balder burst into the room. He hauled you to your feet and dragged you out of the room. "Get outside. Stay with the servants," he yelled at you, giving orders he expected to be obeyed. You did as you were told, leaving the burning mansion with the servants. In the meantime, Balder ran toward the vault to save his stolen powers.

The second you were far enough away from the mansion, you felt the moment that youpassed through the shields.You turned to your guards and gave them a wicked grin while you used telekinesis to rip their headphones off. "Sorry," you told them. The one word had them all passed out in the snow.

You took one moment to feel for Loki's location through the soulbond. It was too far, your range of teleporting couldn't span the whole realm, but you had to get away from the mansion before Balder found out what you had done. /Kat!/ you heard Loki's voice in your mind and grinned. He could find you now that you were outside the shields. /Are you safe? You are too far away, it will take you more than a few jumps to get to you. It will take a little while/

/I have to get away from here before Balder finds me. I'll teleport as far as you can/ you told him.

/Be safe, darling. Thor is on your side of the realm.I will give him your location once you land. We will be there to help you soon/ Loki promised.

/Tell him that I literally cannot speak/ you warned. Thor didn't have telepathy and you weren't sure after the jump you would be able to use your own. /I'll explain later/ you added before Loki could ask. You needed to get out of here before Balder came out of the mansion.

/I have marked your location. We will be able to find that place again. Get out of there, love/ Everything at the mansion was taken care of. So you teleported as far as you could in the direction of where Loki was. /Loki?/ you asked. You hadn't made it as far as you wanted, but Balder shouldn't be able to track you, or teleport after you. You also had your dagger sheath back.

Next time you escaped from a crazy man, you needed to remember to summon real clothes before you burned all your power teleporting to safety. There was a good foot of snow on the ground. You were barefoot and wearing a shift. It wasn't even a real dress. This was a bad combination. So you started walking. Anything to keep from lying down in the snow and going to sleep. You managed to summon a little flame, though the effort made you dizzy. You hoped Loki wasn't burning all of his magic teleporting across the realm. Both of you being useless wouldn't be good.

/Thor and I are coming/ you heard the strain in his mental voice, he was burning through his magic too.

You trudged through the snow, shivering when your flame went out. You couldn't summon it back. You did’t know how long or how far you walked before Loki appeared in front of you. "Loki!" you exclaimed, too brain dead from the cold to even think. "Shit," you added in a mutter when he instantly collapsed. You were going to kill Balder. You ran to Loki and was grateful he was still breathing. Balder had over-exaggerated how much damage a shout could do, at least to a Asgardian. The effects would probably be worse on a human.

You didn't know what you were going to do, though. Loki was unconscious and there was nothing you could see but snow and trees. You finally spotted what looked like a cave nearby. It was a good thing that Loki had a slight build. You couldn't stay out in the snow, you’d both freeze. Loki's skin seemed to be tinging bluer and bluer by the moment, and you thought you was going crazy when it looked like lines appeared on his skin.

You had learned at some point how to do a fireman's carry. You never thought you’d actually need or use the skill. You somehow managed to do it and hoist Loki onto your shoulders. How you made it to that cave, you’d never know. You got us far enough back in the cave that you were sheltered from the wind. Out of pure desperation, you somehow managed to conjure a fire and sheer stubbornness kept it going. You couldn't let you and Loki freeze. Loki's skin and body was always so cold anyway.

It seemed like hours later when you heard a voice outside of our cave. "Loki? Kat?" It was Thor.You ran to the cave entrance, desperately. Thor was on the path you had made in the snow, mounted on his horse. At least your trail was clear to follow. You waved to him from the cave. He raised a hand in acknowledgement and rode over. He dismounted in an instant and wrapped his warm arms around me. "You're frozen," he said, pulling off his cloak and wrapping it around you. you grabbed his hand and dragged him into the cave. "Loki? What happened?"

/A curse from Balder. He's fine, just unconscious/ you told him, still holding his hand. It took barely any power to use telepathy when you were in physical contact with the person you wanted to talk to. /I tried to keep him warm.../ you added, worriedly.

Thor just laughed. "He is Jotun, little sister. He cannot freeze," Thor went to check out Loki anyway. You wrapped his cloak tighter around you. "He will be fine. Dismiss the fire. We should get out of here," you nodded and vanished the flames. "Can you ride?" you nodded. "Good, I cannot hold both of you on the horse at the same time." Even Thor’s strength had limits. Somehow he mounted the horse while keeping Loki cradled in his arms. He settled Loki on the horse in front of him, then offered you a hand. You reached up and took it. He swung you up behind him. "Good thing you two are so little. Ashe here could not carry all three of us otherwise. Hold on tight, little sister. There is a village nearby we can hole up in for the night." You wrapped your arms tightly around his waist. He was so warm that you finally felt like you wouldn't freeze to death.

You rode for what felt like a long time. "Why am I in your arms like a maiden?" Loki demanded a long time later. You laughed and was grateful that didn't knock the boys out. Laughter was ok it seemed.

"You were unconscious, little brother," Thor replied jovially. "We are nearly there. Sister, are you still ok?" Thor asked. You moved your arm enough that he could see the thumb's up you gave him. You pulled it back under the cloak as quickly as you could and huddled yourself against Thor’s warmth. He stopped the horse in front of an inn in the village. Loki leapt out of his grip the second it was safe to do so. He reached up to help you down from the horse, holding you in his arms. Thor dismounted and handed a coin to the hostler who came to take his horse. He led you all into the inn.

"You have found the princess!" the innkeeper announced excitedly. You flushed and hid your face against Loki's shoulder.

"Good innkeeper, do you have a room available we might have for the night?" Thor asked, assuming royal privilege would grant you a room regardless.

"Yes, yes, of course. you will also have one of the girls bring something to eat up to you." Thor and the innkeeper dealt with the details and you zoned out a little. 

/Sorry/ you told Loki as he wandered closer to the fire in the inn's dining room. You felt bad for accidentally knocking him out

"It is alright, darling. Though you will have to tell me what happened," he told you, his voice was a mix of emotions: concern, relief, love.

/Later? So tired/ your telepathic voice was even mumbling and starting to slur. He kissed your forehead.

"Later," he agreed. "Let's get you warm first." As soon as the innkeeper was dealt with, you all trudged upstairs to the room you were given. Loki summoned fluffy pajamas and thick fuzzy socks for you and tucked you in under a pile of blankets in one of the two beds. "Rest, love. We will wake you when the food arrives," Loki bid you softly, gently.

/This is real?/ you asked, not quite sure you believed that you had actually escaped.

"Very real. You are safe now." He kissed your forehead and you allowed yourself to close your eyes and finally relax.


	29. Chapter 29

You laid shivering in the pile of blankets with your eyes closed for a minute. You desperately wanted to get warm.Your eyes snapped open when Loki stood from where he had been sitting on the edge of the bed. You sat up and watched as he went to the fireplace and used magic to make an instant roaring fire. You saw his grin. "That is a useful power, love," he commented. Fire wasn't one of his powers. It was one of yours. He could use it because of the soulbond. You gave him a small smile.

You turned your attention to Thor when you heard a noise on his side of the room. He was stripping off his shoes. You didn't think anything of it until he came over to your bed and started pulling back the covers. You opened your mouth to protest, but snapped it shut. You grabbed for the blankets instead.

Thor just gave you a look and gently tugged the blankets from you. "Sister, you are frozen. You were out in the snow barefoot in unsuitable clothing for far too long. Let me help you warm back up," Thor pleaded with you. You looked over at Loki, wondering why he wasn't trying this, or trying to stop Thor. His back was turned to you, pretending to tend the fire. You could tell by the hunch of his shoulders that he was embarrassed.

"Let him help, darling. He is right. Admittedly, he is a furnace," Loki said, still keeping his back turned. "And he is fully dressed, or he better be." You laughed and let Thor climb into the bed. He pulled you to him and wrapped the blankets around you both.You curled yourself in his arms and found that you only shivered for a moment. He really was a furnace. You gestured to the embarrassed looking Loki with raised brows, silently asking Thor what was wrong with Loki.

"He is embarrassed that he he cannot help with this," Thor explained. "Even though it is not his fault that he was adopted or that he is Jotun,”

"Or that my skin turns blue when it is cold, or that my body does not produce enough heat to be of any use and I have to let my brother do what should be my job. Just because it is not my fault does not mean I cannot be upset that my soulbond is frozen and I would only make it worse if you tried to help," Loki snarled, frustrated and hurt. You could hear the tears he was fighting back. Before Thor could stop you, you had scrambled out of the bed and went to Loki to wrap your arms around him. He stiffened for a moment, but eventually softened and hugged you to him. "You are incorrigible," he said with loving exasperation. You never did what you were told and kept trying to take care of everyone else instead of yourself. By that definition, you were incorrigible. That didn't mean you could let him get away with the comment. You looked up at him and stuck your tongue out at him. He laughed. "I love you too," he replied. You laid your head against his chest, just glad to be able to hold him.

However, the second you shivered, you were off your feet, swept up into his arms and he was carrying you back to the bed. "I'm fine, darling. Please warm up," he bid you as he set you on the bed. You curled back under the blankets and Thor wrapped his arms back around you. You patted the bed next to you in invitation. Loki hesitated, but sat there on top of the blankets. You took his hand in one of yours and gave him a smile.

The three of you sat like that in comfortable silence until there was a knock on the door. Loki stood to answer it and Thor shifted so he was in position to defend you. Their reactions were automatic, which made sense as they’d fought together for centuries. 

Loki spoke briefly with the girl on the other side of the door and came back a moment later holding a tray laden with food. Thor got out of the bed to help him. You ended up all sitting on the bed with bowls of thick stew and bread fresh from the oven. It was absolutely divine. You hadn't eaten properly since before you had been kidnapped.

You laughed when both boys tried to give you half of their stew when you had finished your own. You tried to protest, but they both ignored your admittedly silent protests. You glared at both of them when they had dumped more stew in your bowl. You ate it anyway because you were starving, but you were still upset with both of them for ignoring you. They just looked pleased with themselves.

Smug bastards.

When all of the food was devoured, Loki and Thor gathered the dishes and set them on the small table set outside of the door to the room that was there just for that purpose. Both of the boys sat on the bed so you were all facing each other. Loki gave you a sad smile. "Darling, are you up to telling us what happened? We _do_ need to report to Father soon..." he hesitated. He didn't want to push, but this was important. You took a deep breath, then nodded, offering them each one of your hands. "I will hold the connection, love," Loki added. You nodded and let him use his magic to make the telepathic connection between the three of you. 

/Can I just show you what happened instead of trying to find the words?/ you asked. Loki nodded. Thor looked confused. /Thor? Can you hear?/ you asked. He nodded then. He didn't quite have the trick of answering telepathically.

"I can hear,"

/Good. You're going to see too. This will probably be weird for you/ you explained. You closed your eyes to dig through your memories. There was a trick to it to fast forward through days of stuff they wouldn't care about. You made sure the memories were in order, then brought them to the forefront of your mind, playing them like a movie for Loki and Thor from the moment of your ill-fated trip to the library to the point where Thor found you in the cave.

You let both of their hands go the moment the memories had finished playing out, tears in your eyes. You knew in your heart that Loki wouldn't abandon you, what Balder had done still hurt. It hurt so badly, you couldn't have found the words for it, even if you had been able to say them.

"I will kill him," Thor announced, moving to grab his hammer and go storming out of the room. You touched his arm to stop him. "This is an insufferable insult, Sister," he told me. you couldn't argue with that.

“Thor, can you go see if they have anything to drink downstairs?" Loki asked softly. Thor looked between you and Loki confused. Loki wanted to talk without an audience.

"You are not going to do anything stupid, are you, Brother?" Thor asked in reply.

"I am not, but you would like a private word with my lady," Loki answered, his tone carefully neutral. Thor looked at you, he wouldn't leave if you didn't feel safe. You nodded your agreement and made a shooing motion with your hands. Thor laughed and left you be.

You held out your wrist to Loki, the one with the metal bangle still on it. /Before you begin the heavy conversation, mind taking this off? It doesn't work anymore anyway. I kinda broke it.../ He gave you the barest hint of a smile and removed the bangle. You were glad to be rid of the stupid thing. You looked back up at him and his expression nearly broke your heart again.

"I failed you," he told you softly, his eyes so hurt and heartbroken. You shook your head but he continued. "I promised to protect you. You were under my care, under my protection. I failed you," he repeated firmly.

/It's not your fault./ you told him firmly. /You can't blame yourself that your brother is an idiot. We both took all the precautions we should have. He was determined and can be smart. Occasionally/

"Except when he is faced with you," he added. You gave him a smile. Even a heavy conversation couldn't completely eliminate his lightheartedness entirely. "I'm so proud of you, darling. That was definitely a warrior's task and you proved yourself equal to it." He gave you a mischievous grin. "I am also extremely impressed by your ability to trick and lie to him, my silver tongued darling. It is even more impressive since he grew up with my company and should have some immunity to tricks by now." You smiled at that. It was high praise from him indeed. His expression sobered a little. "I am sorry you had to face him alone, and more sorry for what he did to you. We will find a way to fix it, I swear." He took a breath before he continued. You saw the hesitation, saw how hard it was for him to say the next words. "You did not believe what he said? You did not believe that I would... no longer...?" he couldn't get the words out.

You leaned up and kissed him in reply. /Never/ you told him when your lips met.

"Geez, I go get drinks and you two start making out?" Thor greeted you from the doorway. "You are supposed to be talking, little brother, not kissing your lovely soulbond," You and Loki both flipped him off at the same time, not breaking the kiss. A moment later the kiss was broken and all three of you erupted in laughter.

Things were much less dire now that you were free of Balder’s mansion.


	30. Chapter 30

Thor handed you a warm mug of spiced wine once your laughing fit was over. Loki got one too. Thor of course had a giant mug of beer. You didn't normally drink, you weren't of age on Earth and you hadn't gotten into the habit on Asgard. Plus alcohol and magic didn’t tend to mix well.However, the spiced wine was hot and smelled delicious, so you sipped on it carefully. It was delicious and you grinned at Thor for his excellent choice.

"Brother, you should send our report now," Thor told Loki after he sat on the other bed in the room with his mug of beer. Loki sighed, but nodded. He closed his eyes and you felt his concentration and magic as he reached across the realm to report to Frigga, who would in turn report to Odin.

You taught Thor one of those annoying hand clapping games that tween girls were fond of while you were waiting for him to be done sending the report. "That is not at all distracting," Loki commented sarcastically, splitting his attention between his report and scolding you and Thor. His voice was strained, though, so you decided that you had to be good for his sake. So you and Thor proceeded to have a very mature and very quite thumb wrestling contest while Loki was preoccupied. You were such adults. At least you were quiet about it. Loki just laughed at you when he realized what you were doing, once he was finished with his conversation with Frigga. "Mother wants me and Kat to return to the palace first thing in the morning. Father wants you to remain here so you two can go investigate Balder’s hideout. He is on his way and should be here by the time we leave," Loki finally announced when he dropped his magic.

"Mother does not wish for you to return now?" Thor asked, not quite believing Loki. You didn't blame him. Loki was a known liar and trickster. You also knew that Loki would want to get you home as quickly as possible, and wouldn't delay any longer than he had to.

"I am sure she would like for us to return today, but I cannot teleport across the realm again today. Especially not with a passenger," he explained. Thor accepted that argument. He didn't know much about magic and trusted Loki when he came to his power levels. "Darling, don't even try to say you can help. You cannot," Loki told you before you could protest that you had power too.

You didn't feel like fighting your exhausted brain through trying to use telepathy, which was the hardest of your powers to control on a good day, so you switched over to sign language. Thor wouldn't understand what you were saying regardless, so you were equally rude to him no matter how you chose to speak.[My eyes are black because of your illusions] you reminded Loki. The illusion on your soulbond marks were still in place too. Loki looked shocked, like he had completely forgotten about the illusions. He probably had. A lot had happened. He waved a hand and the illusions vanished. You touched the soulbond marks on your arm, glad they were back in all of their colorful glory. You had missed them in the short time they’d been grayed out.

"You will have to teach me to read those signs, sister," Thor said with a smile in his voice. You grinned at him. He was so kind. You were touched that he was offering to learn to sign just for you, though you hoped that your voice would be fixed soon enough that you didn’t need for him to learn it. 

"That did not fix your eyes, darling," Loki told you gently. "You must have burned too much power in your escape,” you sighed heavily, tired of being without your magic. "I believe Mother did warn you that you could not use your powers again until after your eyes had turned back," he reminded you gently.

[I know] you signed, throwing the extra snap into the movements to indicate your grumpiness. [I didn't have a choice]. You sighed again. The rules of magic were stupid and illogical sometimes. You got up to look in the mirror, to see how bad the damage was. Loki had way over-exaggerated. Your eyes were nearly back to normal. You could see the tint of color behind the gray. [Liar] you signed at him.

He held up his hands in defeat. "Can you blame me for wanting you to rest?" he asked with an innocent smile.It was nearly his Cheshire Cat grin.

[You usually lie better] you accused.

Thor cleared his throat. "Children, either stop arguing, or argue in a way that I can understand you so I can pick a side,” Thor said with a pout. 

You laughed at him andsummoned a notebook and a pen. <Loki is a liar> you wrote and showed it to Thor.

He just laughed. "Of course he is, sister dear. Surely you have not just figured that out.He is the god of lies after all,” he reminded you.

<He lied badly> you wrote to Thor, who kept laughing at you. Rude older brother.

"Now _that _is uncharacteristic," Thor commented. He looked to Loki for his side of the argument. At least he was trying to be fair.

"I thought you would be too tired after your ordeal to call my bluff," Loki protested. You stuck your tongue out at him. "You should be dead asleep by now after everything you have been through. I think you are only still standing due to stubbornness," he grumbled. You was really good at continuing to function due to pure stubbornness. You had a lot of practice over the last year. Caffeine usually helped too. You realized that mulled wine did not help. It really was just stubbornness keeping you on your feet.

You next comment was important enough that you needed to make sure you was understood by both of them, so you switched to telepathy, though it taxed your poor exhausted brain. /That's why I can't sleep/ you told them firmly. /If I wake screaming from nightmares you could both be dead/ That thought haunted you. You couldn't control what your body did when you were trapped in nightmares and you usually woke screaming.

"Darling, all you ever had to do was say something. Confide your fears in me. I can help," Loki reminded you gently. His voice bordering on hurt that you hadn't already asked.

You looked away, embarrassed. [You know I don't like talking about my nightmares] you reminded him. Of course you hadn't asked.

Loki came over and wrapped you in his arms. "I know, love, but I am here for you and I am the last person who would ever judge you for having a nightmare. Thor has plenty of embarrassing stories he can tell you to that effect," Loki told you with a smile.

"He burst into my bedroom in the middle of the night shortly after Sif and I were soulbound," Thor started the story. Loki glared at him and you laughed. "Granted he was used to hiding in my bed after nightmares..."

"Brother, that was not an invitation to tell embarrassing stories," Loki commented dryly.

Thor ignored him and continued.“He was most surprised to find that my bed already had another occupant. And that both of us were naked. I am still not sure Sif has forgiven him entirely for that. Though he _did _look so pathetic..."

"That is unhelpful, Brother," Loki grumbled while you just kept laughing in his arms at the image the story was conjuring.

"You must have looked quite pathetic indeed, since Sif told me to move to the middle of the bed so you could crawl in on the other side," Thor laughed as he recalled the old memory.

/Did he join you?/ you asked Thor, signing out the words at the same time.

Thor laughed and nodded. "He did,"

"I hate you both," Loki pouted.

You stood up on your toes to kiss him. /I love you too/ you thought at him. Your brain was getting too fuzzy from exhaustion to use telepathy anymore.

He gave you a look. He had caught it too."Bed for you," he told you gently. You looked up at him with fear in your eyes. You didn't want to hurt him. "I know you dislike the spell, love, but it will keep all of us safe until we can find a way to strip this power from you."

You nodded and let him steer you back to the bed. You got settled and you waved to Thor. "Goodnight," Thor replied. He got up to take care of the lights before he settled into the other bed. It seemed like it should have been weird sleeping in a bed with Loki when his brother was in the other bed in the room, but there was no awkwardness.Nothing sexual was going to happen and you all needed sleep.

Loki kissed your forehead. "Sleep well, darling," he bid you as you felt his magic flow over you. It was the spell that caused a dreamless sleep. They would be safe. You succumbed to sleep then, with the knowledge that your family was safe.


	31. Chapter 31

"Darling, I hate to wake you, but we need to be leaving soon," Loki's voice woke you the next morning. You actually opened your eyes, instead of just snuggling closer against him, since he wasn't actually in the bed. You had to see where he was. You sat up and soon had a giant plate of breakfast in your lap, courtesy of the silly Trickster boyfriend. You smiled up at him. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and saw that it was just barely dawn.

You opened your mouth to ask Loki if he'd eaten, but shut it again, frustrated that you’d forgotten. You really didn't want to knock Loki out again. He would get annoyed if you kept doing it, no matter if it was an accident. You really needed to get rid of this power ASAP. It was nothing but trouble, which is exactly what Balder wanted. He had wanted you to be dependent on him as the only person you could communicate with. You weren't going to let him win, you just needed to remember that you had to keep your mouth shut. [Have you eaten?] you signed at Loki. You didn't want to use telepathy right now, just in case he did need to borrow power from you to teleport across the realm.

"I have," he replied. You gave him a look. He lied too often and too well. "No tricks," he added with a chuckle. You accepted his word then and dug into your breakfast. Thor burst back into the room from the bathroom while you were eating. You was just glad he had put pants on. Loki looked equally relieved. He was wearing a different outfit, so you assumed Loki had conjured some new clothes for them both. They didn't have any bags or anything. You finished your breakfast and got out of the bed, automatically checking to make sure your dagger sheath was in place. "Kat..." Loki started. You looked over at him, giving him your undivided attention. He only used your real name when he had something important or difficult to say. "If you are up to it, there is one more slight deception we should do..." he started.

"Just ask her, Brother. I am sure she will agree," Thor grumbled as he finished putting on his shirt and started on his armor. Loki hesitated, so Thor continued instead. "It is a good idea for you to appear in front of the court when you get back to the palace as though you just escaped from Balder. In the same dress and condition we found you in. It will gain our position against Balder favor with the court and those hiding there who might be sympathetic towards his cause. Much as you do not want to admit it, sister, you are a favorite among the court, especially when they can see how you have tamed Loki,"

"She has not tamed me!" Loki protested and spluttered.

You laughed at that.You couldn’t help it.He looked like a drowned cat when he spluttered like that.

"They will be horrified by what Balder did to you and took from you, but they will also appreciate your strength for escaping, especially if we can show them exactly what condition you were in when you escaped," Thor explained carefully. It was strange to hear him speak so calculatingly. He wasn't jovial for once and was actually serious, and speaking like the heir to the throne.

[You want you to lie to them?] you signed. You were trying to save your magic for helping Loki teleport us across the realm. Loki translated instead of just answering you himself, which was very considerate of him.

"Not lie," Thor hedged. "I am not asking you to exaggerate or lie, just to show them what he did to you," he added. You nodded and used magic and a couple well placed illusions with the help of the mirror in the room to get the look correct. You were back in the torn, dirty, shift dress, barefoot, with illusion injuries on your wrists from the manacles, your feet from walking through the woods, and your face and split lip from where Balder had hit you. your hair was a dirty, tangled mess.

[Happy?] you signed at them as you went to pick up Loki's cloak from where it was draped over a chair.

"Thank you," Thor replied, catching the gist without Loki's help.

"Darling, does it not defeat the point if you steal my cloak?" Loki asked gently.

You shook your head as you fastened it around your shoulders. /You love me too much/ you projected the telepathy so Thor could hear too. /The court will believe that you would choose to use magic to get you home faster instead of fixing my clothes and appearance first. They will not believe that you would not give me your cloak at the very least before you teleport us across the realm/

"She is correct, Brother," Thor replied.

Loki sighed came over to you and settled the cloak over your shoulders and fastened it for you. "I love you, darling, and I will do my best to make sure this ordeal with the court is over quickly." you nodded and hugged him. "You crafted your illusions through the soulbond, didn't you?" he asked with a chuckle. You nodded. Crafting them that way meant that Loki could touch them and they wouldn't break. Illusions generally didn't survive physical contact. "We should get going. Thor, will you be alright until Father arrives?" Loki asked, looking over you to Thor.

Thor rolled his eyes in reply. "How many missions is this, and still my little brother worries over my safety?"

You laughed at the familiar line.

"We will see you back at the palace," Loki replied instead of dignifying that with an answer.

"Get her home safely, Brother," Thor replied.

[Are you sure you don't need help?] you signed at Loki.

"Actually, that is a better idea, darling," Loki smiled and kissed the top of your head. He pulled out a familiar spellbook and looked for the spell. "You do not need to say the words, just call up your magic and think them," he added when he found the spell and held open the book in front of you so you could both see it. “Thor, when you and Father are done, let me know and I will open a portal for you," Loki instructed. "I could not open a portal to you yesterday, since I had to use the soulbond to find your exact location. We can use one to go home, though, since we know where home is," he explained to you. You nodded. That made sense.You liked it when the magic made sense. 

"Get home safely," Thor bid you. You waved to him and turned back to the spell. You and Loki both recited it, though your recitation was silent. You felt the power drain from both of you into the portal, but it was much less than it would have been trying to do the spell alone. The portal flashed to life in front of you. You stepped through and it snapped shut behind you again the instant you were through.

You ended up right outside of the throne room. You both paused to catch your breath before continuing. "Ready?" Loki asked you softly. You straightened your spine and nodded. You needed to show them that even though you looked like hell, you were still their princess and still a strong capable warrior.

Loki opened the door to the throne room and you both strode inside. There were gasps of shock and horror as you made your way to the thrones. Sif jumped to her feet when she saw me, Frigga was close behind, though more slowly, as she still had to maintain her regal air. you noticed as you was walking that one of your feet was leaving a blood trail. Oops. Apparently you had actually cut it during your hike through the woods yesterday. It must've reopened at some point.

Loki was following you in guard position, just as he had done through your junior year of high school. This was your show, your story. He was here for support. /You're bleeding/ he thought at you.

/Apparently/ you replied. /Will you fix it after this?/ you asked. You couldn't heal yourself. You could only heal others.It was the one limitation of your healing abilities.

/Of course/

Sif ran off of the dais that the thrones were on to wrap you in a hug. "Kat! You're ok. We were so worried!" she exclaimed. You nodded and hugged her back. Frigga joined you an instant later.

"Daughter, I am glad you are safe," she said as she wrapped you in a hug next.

/Thank you/ you used telepathy to speak to them both.

"What Loki reported is true, then? Balder used some kind of magic to turn your voice into a weapon?" Frigga asked gently.

You nodded. /Shall I show them?/ you asked.You needed her permission to terrify the court.It was a whole big thing of being royal.

/Are you up to it?/ she replied telepathically.

/I am. They need to know/

"I would hear your testimony, daughter. Show us what happened," Frigga ordered loudly enough to be heard by the members of the court. She and Sif went back to their places. You stood below their thrones with Loki, who held your hand, a silent offer to feed you power if you needed it, as well as offering you support.

You closed your eyes in concentration and summoned the magic for this, and used illusion to play back your memories as a movie for the entire court to see. It was the same set of images you had shown to Loki and Thor the day before. You heard the gasps of horror and people wanting to disbelieve, but they couldn't, not with the evidence standing before them.

"Thank you for your testimony, daughter," Frigga said once the playback of your memories was over. You sagged against Loki. Your job here was finished, and that was two big spells you had done in a short period of time. He wrapped an arm around you, keeping you on your feet. "Loki, take your soulbond to the healers. We will discuss this further later,"

Loki bowed to Frigga, then swept you up into his arms, wrapped securely in his cloak. /I am taking you to the suite, not the healers, do not fear/ he thought at you. You just laid your head on his shoulder in reply. You only had one wound that needed healing and he could do it himself. You closed your eyes as he carried you home, content in his cool arms.

"You can drop the illusions now, darling," Loki told you once you were safely in the family wing, away from prying eyes. You dropped the illusions then so they weren’t draining your power. "What on Midgard did you do to your hair?" he asked gently when your bird's nest didn't go back to normal when the rest of the illusions vanished. "This will take me forever to fix," he whined, but it was a show. He loved playing with your hair and brushing it. Yes, he would be annoyed at all of the tangles, but he would enjoy fixing it. You just laughed in reply. When you got to the suite, he set you down on the couch so he could kneel in front of you to heal your foot. You kissed him when he had finished.

After you got a way too hot shower and dressed in pajamas you was fairly certain were stolen from Loki's closet on Earth, he spent an hour brushing out the tangled mess your hair had become. It took an effort of magic, the hairbrush, and a generous amount of curse words, but he finally got it back to soft curls down your back. Once he was finished with that, you grabbed his hand to drag him from the suite. "Darling, where are you dragging me?" he asked, but didn't try to stop me.

/Library/ you replied. /We have to figure out how Balder created these/ you pulled the power sphere you had stolen from Balder from where you had vanished it earlier, holding it to Loki so he could see it.

"Very well," he replied. "But wait a moment," you paused and dropped his hand. He used magic to summon real clothes for you instead of pajamas. It was a very simple casual dress. You would have protested, but you did have to pay attention to propriety when you were wandering the palace during the day. You walked together to the library and soon had a huge pile of books in front of you both to try to find out any information you could about the power spheres. Especially how to get the power back out of you.


	32. Chapter 32

You spent the afternoon in the library researching. Frigga came to join you for as long as she could be spared from her actual duties.She tested the sphere with magic too. "You stole this from Balder?” she asked after she had tested it and identified what it was. You nodded your agreement. "Very clever, dear," she commented and got to work.

You and Loki both clutched your heads at the same time when you heard Thor's call for you to open the portal. He was so loud and booming, just like his thunder.He never learned how to properly use his powers. Frigga laughed at your expressions. /Give us a minute Thor. We need to get outside so the horses don't appear in the palace/ you replied when you got your brain working again.

"Darling, you can stay here-“ Loki started. You just gave him a look. "Fine, we will go down together. Mother, Sister, will you be coming also?" He asked, sounding grumpy. Sif had joined you to help research at one point, though you didn’t quite remember how long ago that was. You weren't making any progress, so the break was appreciated.

"Of course!" Sif replied, jumping to her feet. She was worried about Thor and wanted to see him home safe. 

"We'll set the portal at the entrance by the practice court," Loki told you. You nodded and stood.You offered a hand to Sif, who looked confused before she remembered that you had Loki's teleportation powers. Loki was offering his mother his hand, though you thought she could teleport herself. Sif still visibly hesitated before taking your hand. The second she did, you teleported both of you down to the spot Loki had indicated.

You dropped her hand the moment you arrived safely. You knew she was uncomfortable, and figured it was with you. "I'll never get used to that," Sif commented when you had arrived safely. You laughed, then realizing her discomfort was with teleporting and not with you doing it, or with the fact that you had only acquired the power in the last year. Teleporting did take some getting used to, especially when you had to rely on someone else to do it. Loki and Frigga arrived just behind you.

Loki summoned the spellbook again and held it out to you so you could see it too. "We will have to make it larger this time to accommodate the horses," you nodded your understanding. "Ready?" he asked. You nodded again and for the second time that day you recited the spell to open the portal. You had to make this one a lot larger and it took a lot more power to open and keep open. There were a lot of people who came through it. It wasn't just Odin, Thor, and their horses, but also the troops who had gone with Odin.

Thor let the servants take his horse, and kissed Sif the second he saw her. You smiled at how cute they were. Once everyone was through the portal, you and Loki let it snap shut. You wrapped an arm around his waist while he wrapped his arm around your shoulders. You both held the other up while pretending you were standing on your own just fine. That had taken way more magic than either of you had anticipated.

Odin stormed over to where we were standing. "About time," he snapped at Loki. "You kept us waiting." Loki shrank under the words. You stood taller, stepping between the two to glare at Odin. Loki may have had to put up with his father's abuse, but you didn't have to. It also didn't matter that Odin was a good foot taller than you were.You were used to glaring up at people who were being stupid.

"I apologize, Father," Loki replied, pulling you back against him before you could land yourself in trouble.

Odin glared down at you, unappeased. "I want a demonstration of the curse Balder placed on her," Odin told you both firmly.

"Father, that is not a good-" Loki started, but Odin just glared at him.

"Now," he spat at you.

With a practiced flick of your hand, you threw up shields around Loki, Frigga, Sif and Thor. You didn't want them affected by this. You cleared your throat. "This really isn't a good idea," you said. After 'really' everyone in the vicinity besides Odin was unconscious. He was fighting it hard, and had gone to his knees by the end of your sentence. You looked around at the chaos of unconscious people around you. At least your shielded family was safe.

Odin stood again, glaring. "Clean up this mess," he snapped at you and stormed off.

You were too emotionally compromised. You had used too much magic too quickly, and you had hurt all of these people on Odin's orders. You turned to Loki and wept in to his chest, your shields fading from the others as you did.

"Darling, he is an ass. Ignore him," Loki told you softly, holding you while you wept. He saw Frigga watching you. "Sorry, Mother,"

"I seemed to have gone temporarily deaf and have no idea what you said, dear," she replied with a smile. You couldn't help laughing at that. You stepped out of Loki's arms so you could get to healing the unconscious people. It was your fault they were unconscious after all. Loki tried to help you, but you shooed him off.

"Darling, this is Father's fault, not yours." You ignored him, moving from your first victim to the next. This was your fault. All of the victims were bleeding from their ears. It wasn't a big healing, but the apologies were difficult. Frigga and Loki both came to help you, despite your insistence that you should do this yourself. Between the three of you, it didn't take long to get everyone healed and apologized to. They seemed to take it ok, but you still felt horrible.

When the last person was healed, Loki came over to you and pulled you gently to your feet. He wrapped his arms around you and let you return to sobbing. "Shh, love. It is not your fault. None of this is,"

"He is right, dear. Odin is just upset with Balder’s actions. I am sorry he took out his emotions on you," Frigga added. You stiffened when you remembered that the rest of them were all here still. "You two have both used quite a bit of power this afternoon. Why don't you get some rest until dinner,"

"That is an excellent idea, Mother," Loki replied. He kept an arm wrapped around you and walked you back to your suite. "Darling, please do not cry over Father. He is not worth it," Loki bid you when we were safely back in your suite. "His actions were uncalled for. They usually are," you nodded, but still held on to Loki for comfort. After a brief green flash of his magic, you were both in pajamas. You laughed when you realized you was dressed in one of his t-shirts and pajama pants from Earth, both were too big, and you were sure adorable. He must have been feeling unsettled to surround you in his scent and aura. "I have a surprise for you after dinner," he told you with a grin. He was trying to lighten the mood. You smiled up at him and raised your eyebrows, asking what the surprise was. He laughed. "It is a surprise, darling," he replied. You rolled your eyes at him. He chuckled and let you drag him to your bed so you could get a nap before dinner. It had been a long day with lots of magic and emotions, you both needed the break.

"I was so worried about you," he whispered while his fingers ran through your hair. You listened to his heartbeat, your head on his cool chest.

/I was worried about you too/ you laughed.

He chuckled and kissed the top of your head. "I love you,"

/Even if you can never hear you say those words again?/ you asked, your telepathic voice soft and scared.

"Even if. But we will figure out how to undo what Balder did you," he replied.

/Tony is going to kill us/ you reminded him. He sighed.

"Yes. He is. I really am not looking forward to him punching me again..." Loki grumbled. "Especially since we do need to return soon. We have been gone far longer than intended already,"

/Yes, well I was kidnapped for...days?/

"It was a week, darling. And I had only been planning on being here for a week, two at most. Your uncle will be worried if we do not return soon," you nodded at that. Tony worried enough already anyway.

/If you look pathetic enough at him maybe he'll just be mad at you/ you told him with a giggle.

"You would leave me to face your uncle alone?" he asked with mock-hurt.

You laughed aloud at that. /No, I'll protect you/ you replied.

You dozed for a couple hours before you had to get ready for dinner. You could have slept longer, but Loki wanted to do your hair. You were just glad Balder hadn't cut off the lock of Loki's hair that was braided in, growing with your hair.You also had the feeling that Loki really enjoyed you doing his hair. Maybe it reminded him of Frigga doing the same when he was younger.So you did his before dinner as well.

"Thor, you and Sif are coming with us tonight, are you not?" Loki asked during dinner. Thor nodded.

"We are. It was very kind of you to invite us," he answered.

[Where are we going?] you signed grumpily. Loki still hadn't told you what he had planned.

"You will see later," Loki replied with a mischievous grin.

"Kat, are you feeling better?" Sif asked, changing the subject. You nodded and signed that you were fine. Loki translated and Sif and Thor both said that they would learn to sign as well. You didn't want to burn out all of your magic to talk.

You really had to come up with a solution soon.

Sif and Thor tried to include you in the conversation, but it was difficult when neither of them could sign and you kept having to use Loki as a translator, or you had to switch to telepathy. You finally switched over just so you didn't keep inconveniencing Loki by making him translate. He didn't seem to mind, but still...

You were grateful when dinner was over. Loki offered you his hand in formal escort. Thor and Sif followed you. You walked through the halls of the palace until you came to the theater where you had watched the troupe's last performance. /I promise, it is a different show/ Loki explained when you entered. You were given the same seats of honor and you sat between Loki and Thor again.

[Now will you tell you what we're seeing?] you asked Loki

"No. It is a surprise, darling," Loki replied, overly patient. You huffed at him and even Thor and Sif started laughing at you. "I have been working very hard on this surprise. I would like for it to remain a surprise,"

You didn't have to wait much longer. The bell chimed for the show to begin. You watched excitedly, wanting to see what Loki had come up with. You were laughing about five seconds into the show. It only took you that long to figure out what the show was. You laughed even harder about five minutes in when the first song began. Not only did the actor on stage sing it, but the entire crowd around you, including Loki, Thor, and Sif all sang along.

Somehow, Loki had gotten the theater troupe to perform Superhero Musical. It was modified slightly, but only very slightly. Every word of the songs was the same. He had also somehow gotten everyone to learn the words to the songs.

It was amazing and felt like home, being surrounded by your family singing along to this stupid show. Though out of habit you opened your mouth to sing your part during the duet, seconds before it started. You stopped just in time. "Sing, darling. It is safe," Loki whispered in your ear. You didn't know how it was safe, but you trusted him. He wouldn't put everyone in danger. So you sang your part along with all of the other girls in the theater. You saw the glow of green magic fade after the song and knew whatever magic he had done had faded. He couldn't hold it forever. You were grateful that he had managed so you could sing along to your favorite song in the show.

You left the theater after the performance all giddy and laughing, after you had thanked and praised the troupe for the wonderful performance.

/How did you do that?/ you asked Loki, projecting so Thor and Sif could hear you too.

"I have been working with the troupe for the better part of the year so I could surprise you the next time you came to visit. Some of the court and people here got wind of what I was up to and demanded to sit in on the practices so they could learn the songs. They had heard of the tradition of everyone singing along,"

/It was perfect/ you told them all, nearly skipping with giddiness.

"I keep telling you that the people adore you, little sister," Thor added. He sighed when he saw how bouncy and excited you were. "You are not going to sleep tonight, are you?" he asked, laughing. You giggled. "Try to choose somewhere logical for me to come find you, please?" his voice was so forlorn that you couldn't help laughing harder at him.

"Oh, let her be happy, Thor," Sif scolded gently. "You're up at 3am waiting for Frigga to contact you every morning anyway,"

You laughed and grabbed Loki's hand, twirling you both a few steps down the hall. He held your hand, wrapped his other around your waist and danced you down the hall in graceful twirling steps.

You heard Thor sigh behind you. "Who let those two be together?" he asked with mock exasperation.

"Shush, darling. I have never seen your brother so happy," Sif replied. Thor could only agree with her.

You twirled a few more steps, when Loki stopped, spun you one more time, then bowed over your hand to kiss your knuckles. You somehow managed to make it back to our suite walking like normal grownups. Though you had the feeling Thor was going to carry you there if you had played around too much more.


	33. Chapter 33

Thor was right, you were too bouncy, excited, and happy to go to sleep right away. Loki just laughed at your mood. "I love seeing you so happy, darling," he told you as you danced around the sittingroom together in your pajamas.

/It was an excellent surprise/ you replied. /It felt like home. I can't believe that they all wanted to learn the musical just to sing along/ you added. You were touched that everyone there had been singing along.

"I have a feeling they will all be learning ASL soon too," he chuckled. You laughed at that. You wouldn’t doubt it either.“It will be the new fashion of the court, as the lovelock has already started to become. Apparently almost every magic user in the court has bothered the poor librarians for that spell,” Loki explained with a laugh. He grew more sober when he looked at you.“However, it is quite late and we should get some rest," he reminded you. You sighed. "If you cannot sleep in a couple hours, we will go find an adventure," he promised, reading your expression and mood. You nodded and agreed to at least attempt to get some sleep.

You managed to sleep for a couple of hours. Loki had neglected to use the sleep spell. you don't know if he had forgotten or was keeping his promise to go adventuring with you when you both couldn't sleep. At some point you found yourself face to face with Balder and realized that this was a nightmare.

"You lied to me, pet," Balder snarled at you. You were standing in the bedroom of the mansion you had burned down only a couple of days ago.At least it looked like the bedroom, though surely it was a burned pit by then.

"I'm not going to join you, Balder," you hissed at him, reaching automatically for a dagger from the enchanted sheath, and summoning a fireball in the other hand. You had your powers back and you weren’t afraid to use them on this creep.

"Loki will abandon you, pet. You will join me, one way or the other-" his voice was a snarl with such conviction in his words and tone.

You were ripped from the nightmare by ice and a hand over your mouth. "Wake up, Kat!" Loki ordered urgently. You struggled under his hands and weight for a minute until you woke properly. He was a lot stronger than you were, all of the Asgardians were.While you’d gained Loki’s powers with the soulbond, you hadn’t gained his strength as well.You hadn't appreciated his strength until now, since he never used it against you. "Are you awake now?" he asked when you had calmed. You nodded. He slowly got off of you and removed his hand from your mouth. You jumped up into a sitting position and wrapped your arms around his neck. "I'm so sorry. I should have used the spell," he said softly. You pushed back enough from him to get a good look at him, scared that he had been hurt. His ears were bleeding.

You reached up a glowing blue hand and healed them quickly. /I'm sorry!/ you wailed telepathically.

"It's ok," he soothed, pulling you back into his arms, letting you cry on him, out of fear for his safety and fear of the nightmare about Balder. "I'm alright. Darling, I’m just fine," he whispered and reminded you.

/How are you still conscious?/ you asked him when you had calmed again.

"Luck, mostly," he admitted. "I was only dozing and woke when you moved and whimpered. I managed to get to you before you had screamed for more than moment. I am so sorry, darling," he squeezed you tighter, like he was scared that he had let you down.

/It's not your fault/ you replied. /I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to hurt you/ you whimpered at him, hugging him tightly again. 

"I'm alright." he soothed again. "It is not your fault that my brother hurt you. That is never your fault," he paused again before he added. "We should go find some tea." That's what you always did after nightmares. You nodded and the two of you clambered out of bed to go find the tea. You were too scared to go back to sleep anyway.

Thor found you having a subdued tea party in the kitchen an hour later. You were huddled in the corner of the kitchen, looking rather pathetic. You had a blanket wrapped around both of your shoulders and sipped on your tea in silence. You barely looked up when Thor came in the room. "What happened?" Thor asked you gently. You knew the look you gave him was haunted. He knelt down in front of you, gentling his tone even more. "What happened?" he asked softly, so gently. He offered you a hand. He knew enough from dealing with Loki that physical contact made telekinesis easier.

You placed your hand timidly in his, lessening the power needed to answer him dramatically when you did. /Nightmare/ you managed to get the thought out. You couldn't focus your thoughts to do any better than that. Thor looked over at Loki and saw where his ears had been bleeding. He seemed to get the rest of the story from that. You looked back down at your cup of tea. You couldn't even sleep without people being in danger. Thor sat down on your other side, joining your huddle. You sat in silence for awhile, all sipping on tea.

"Did she break through your magic?" Thor finally asked Loki.

"No. I did not use the spell," Loki admitted, not looking up from his own cup of tea. "I should have," he added softly. He was haunted too. Thor nodded, taking the new piece of information in.

"Then this is an easy fix for tonight. Tomorrow we will look for more answers," Thor said reasonably. He pulled the blue vial from his pocket and handed it to you, uncorking it before he did. You hesitated, trying to push it back to him. You couldn't sleep. You couldn't risk hurting Loki again.

"Darling, you need sleep. Even with all of your powers and my powers, you are still human," Loki told you gently. You gave him a look. He barely slept either.

/I can't even sleep without you being in danger/ you reminded him, tears in your eyes.

"Kat, love, let us help you," Loki bid you softly. "You do not have to fight alone anymore. I know you spent too many years fighting alone and relying only on yourself and your own wits, and admittedly that idiot uncle of yours occasionally. But you no longer have to anymore. We are in this together. Forever," he held up his left arm with the soulbond marks glowing because of his emotions. "We will figure this out together. In the meantime, we can help you stay safe. Please, let us help." You realized that you had been so focused on being strong and not wallowing over missing Loki this last year, that you had gotten way too used to fighting on your own again. You had been so used to being alone the years you didn't have powers, that you had forgotten how to work cooperatively, how to trust people besides Tony. When Loki came, you had learned all of that, as well as regaining mischief and fun, but the second he was gone you had slipped back into that same stubbornness of doing everything on your own.

/Promise?/ you asked Loki, still terrified.

"I promise, darling,"

"We are all here for you," Thor added from your other side. He was so comforting and warm cuddled up to.You finally nodded, relenting. Thor handed you the vial again and you reluctantly took it. You downed the contents in one gulp. You sat together for a few minutes longer, both boys offering you the comfort of their presence until the potion took effect. Frigga's potions were always well crafted, though, and you were nearly asleep in minutes. Loki stood first, letting Thor support your weight when he did.

"Come, darling, time to go back to bed," Loki bid, reaching down for you. You looked up at him with sleep fogged eyes and managed to wrap your arms around his neck. He scooped you up effortlessly.

"Are you sure you would not like me to-?" Thor asked as he stood, gesturing to you. Loki vanished your blanket and the dishes you had used for the tea.

"I have her," Loki replied, cradling you more comfortably against his cool chest. You laid your head on his shoulder, succumbing to Frigga's potion. Thor gave you both an evaluating look. He was too used to dragging Loki back to bed at 3am. You had a feeling he wasn't used to Loki coming willingly. He was probably also sad that he wasn't carrying his brother draped over his shoulder. He had way too much fun with that. You let him see your scared expression and he relented, knowing you trusted Loki more than anyone.

"Very well. I will guard, then," Thor finally answered. He strode beside you as Loki carried you home. You dozed in Loki's arms while the boys chatted lightly about something. It was nice and comforting, until Thor noticed that you was still at least partially awake. He made the mistake of making a comment about it, directly to you. 

"No!" Loki growled. In the same instant, he dropped the arm under your knees so he could clap that hand over your mouth instead. Your feet hit the ground hard enough to jar you. Your mouth was already open to reply to Thor’s comment.

"What's wrong?" Thor asked, drawing his sword, looking around for the danger. You looked up at Loki with tears in your eyes, exhaustion and emotions running too high. He was holding you against him with his hand still clapped firmly over your mouth.

Loki sighed. "You would not know... Just do not try to talk to her when she is this exhausted. My darling soulbond has no filter when she is half-asleep or more. Which can be pleasant and entertaining. It is not good, however, when she is too tired to remember that she must speak telepathically. Mother's potion should have had her unconscious by now," he added. Thor put his sword away, accepting the explanation. Loki turned to you. "I'm sorry, darling. Are you alright?" he asked. You nodded, the movement made difficult by his hand over your mouth, and even more difficult when Frigga's potion was taking full effect. Stubbornness wasn't going to keep you awake much longer. You were getting dizzy and your eyes wouldn't stay open. You couldn't fall asleep while standing, though, which was probably the only thing keeping you awake. He swept you back up into his arms. "Sleep, love. You are safe," he reminded you softly once you was resettled. “Thor and I will not let anything happen." You believed him. He knew you too well. He had seen you at your best and worst, had spent more that a few nights lying next to you, and you had soothed each other through nightmares. He knew your best and worst habits, and you trusted without a doubt that he knew you well enough to truly protect all of you.

/Love you/ you managed to get the thought to him.

"I love you too," he replied softly and kissed the top of your head. "Now will you please close your eyes and sleep? It is quite useless to fight against Mother's potions. I would know,"

Thor roared in laughed. "That is rich, coming from you Brother!" you fell asleep a moment later, listening to their banter with a smile on your face, trusting that they would keep you all safe.


	34. Chapter 34

You spent the next two days researching in the library nearly nonstop. Frigga, Sif, and even Thor were with you and Loki as you poured endlessly through books. Thor wasn't much help with research. His job was mostly to bring you food, carry books, and wrap blankets around people when they fell asleep at the big table you were all working at. You were the only one who didn't dare fall asleep working, your practice of stubbornly staying awake for days during emergency season came in handy. At least it did until Frigga had enough of you not sleeping.She summoned a vial of potion and poured it into your tea in front of you.You couldn’t go against the queen’s wishes.

"We all need to get some rest," Frigga announced. "Enjoy your last couple of days here," she bid you with a familiar mischievous glint in her eyes when Loki caught you falling asleep at the table. She held up the vial of potion she had dumped in your tea. Loki chuckled at her mischief. "The scholars and I will continue researching while you are gone, but you must do your duty and leave the library and actually be seen by the people. The research will continue without you and I will personally send word when we find out something," she promised.

"Thank you, Mother," Loki said. He helped you to your feet and wrapped an arm around you to keep you there. "Come along, darling. You have not slept in two days. Do not even pretend you think that I had not noticed," he chuckled. He stopped a moment later. "Shit," he murmured. You looked up at him confused.

"Language, darling," Frigga scolded lightly, but had a laugh in her voice. You turned to face her where she was holding up a second empty vial.

"Mother..." Loki groaned exasperated, but you heard his laughter too.Frigga wanted to make sure you all got sleep. 

Thor came over to you a moment later. He already had Sif draped over one of his shoulders, fast asleep. "Mother, you could have made this a bit easier," Thor laughed. He wouldn't be able to carry all three of you to bed. Frigga laughed again and a moment later a portal opened in front of you, leading directly to the family wing.

"I think you can make it that far, dear," Frigga commented lightly. Thor looked between you and Loki. He picked up Loki under his free arm. Loki protested that he was perfectly fine to walk and that Thor should take care of you instead. "Your soulbond is perfectly fine," Frigga told him gently. She had come up next to you and linked her arm with yours. She led you through the portal, dragging you with her. You stumbled, your brain foggy, but managed to stay on your feet, until you made it to your suite's door. Thor set Loki on his feet next to you. "Get some sleep, children," Frigga bid all of you.

There were mumbles of 'Yes, Mother' from everyone and a head nod from you. Somehow you andLoki both managed to make it to bed before you passed out.

You laughed the next morning when you realized you had passed out on top of the covers with the clothes you had been wearing for the last two days straight still on.

/I'm getting a shower/ you announced once you had detangled yourselves from the heap you had landed in the night before. /We haven't left the library in two days and I know I'm gross.../ you headed straight for the bathroom without waiting for his reply.

When you came back from your shower, using magic to dry your hair as you reentered the bedroom, you saw a shy-looking woman sitting on your bed. It only took you a moment to recognize her as Loki. Loki could change into a woman at will as he was gender fluid. You had seen him do it before. But even female, she was still your Loki. She just had longer raven hair, a more shapely build, and of course breasts. You nearly laughed, but stopped just in time when you saw Loki's nervous expression. She was unsure of your reaction. The last time she had done this when you had seen was on her birthday two years ago when she had swapped genders of everyone in the tower, except you and a couple others she held in high enough esteem not to prank. She had included herself that day because she said it sounded like fun.

So you gave her a smile. /Morning, love/ you leaned down to give her a kiss, which shocked her even more. /Need me to do your hair?/ you asked, like nothing had changed, because really, it hadn't. Loki looked up at you, surprised by your reaction. You just summoned the hairbrush and sat next to her on the bed, so you could start brushing out her hair.

"You are not...put off... by this?" Loki asked. Her voice was more musical, lighter pitched, but still with the same sexy accent.

You smiled. /Of course not. Don't forget I've seen you like this before/ you reminded her.

"Yes, but that was a joke, a trick..."

/You're still you/ was your reply. /Hold still. I have to be more careful with your hair this morning/ Loki's longer hair did take more work, but you managed, and even highlighted the magenta-red streak in her hair by using it to frame that side of her face.

"Mother expects us at breakfast this morning," Loki hedged around the question she really wanted to ask.

/Naturally/ you replied dryly.

"Do you want me to change back?" The words were hesitant, afraid.She really couldn’t seem to accept that you loved her just the same, no matter what form she took.You had a feeling that Odin was behind her fear, as per usual.

/After all that time I spent on your hair?/ you replied indignantly, with laughter and fun in your telepathic voice.

Loki finally laughed, finally relaxed. "How did I ever deserve you?" she asked, pulling you into a hug.

/I love you too/ you replied with a smile. /Am I going to have to be prepared to fight the court to defend your honor?/ you asked. You weren’t going to let them make fun of Loki for this. Not when she was obviously uncomfortable.Not even if it was Odin trying to hurt her.

She snorted. "Hardly. They are quite used to my antics," she replied with a grin.

/So I've heard. Though this will make the ball more interesting tonight/ you laughed. You stood and offered Loki your hand and pulled her to her feet when she accepted. She was still taller than you, though a few inches shorter than usual. Asgardians ran tall, and Jotuns ran even taller. You had gotten used to the height difference. You linked your arm with hers and you walked to breakfast together. The servants greeted us as 'princesses' when you passed. They really were used to Loki's antics, or quirks. You didn't think this really counted as an antic, more a part of who your Loki was.

Thor looked up when you entered. You stiffened at his initial glance, ready to fight him over Loki's choice for the day. Instead, Thor jumped to his feet and jovially came over to you. He took your hand and bowed over it to kiss your knuckles, then did the same to Loki. "Good morning, Sisters," he greeted you extra jovially. You smiled and relaxed. You should have known that Thor would be nothing but supportive. Thor offered each of you a hand in formal escort position. You both laughed when you placed our hands on his. He walked you to the table and pulled out your chairs for you. You saw the glimpse of pure joy in Loki's eyes at being accepted.

You spent the morning training with daggers in the practice court with Sif and her warriors. If they were surprised to see Loki join them as a female, no one commented. After that, you caught an early showing of the theater troupe's version of Superhero Musical. You weren't going to be able to go to the showing that evening because of the ball, but Loki wanted the troupe to know that you appreciated their hard work, so you saw it again. Loki's voice was fantastic when she sang along that day. It was a joy to hear her.

You went to the spa that afternoon. Loki wanted to get her nails done and had been hesitant to go alone, even in female form. So you gladly went with her so she could get the experience.

Loki was getting nervous when you were getting ready for dinner that night. You figured Odin was not nearly as supportive as everyone else seemed to be and Loki was afraid of appearing before her adopted father. You didn’t blame her, but still wanted to stab Odin for upsetting your Loki.

You were momentarily distracted by the gorgeous black and green dress Loki had summoned to wear that night. It easily outshown your own blue and gold dress. You didn’t mind.She was the proper princess after all.You helped her settled her tiara perfectly once she was dressed and her hair done.She was absolutely stunning when she was completely ready. You didn't mind taking a back burner to her at all.

Loki hesitated when you got to the hall for dinner. /Stand tall, darling/ you repeated Loki's own words back to her. /They are just jealous/ Loki laughed, straightened her spine and gave you a small smile before the two of you entered the dining hall. You saw Odin's scowl of disapproval, but if Loki saw it, you couldn't tell. She didn't give any indication that she had. Odin didn't say anything, so you didn't have to hurt him. This worked out well. You really didn’t want to get smited for trying to kill him.Thor was as adorable as ever and insisted on pulling out Loki's chair for her. You stuck your tongue out at him when he realized you had seated yourself before he could seat you.

"You are incorrigible, little sister," Thor grumbled at you and you laughed in reply. Dinner was bearable, though Odin wouldn't look at you the entire night. That was fine. You had your own fun.

You were sad that the next day was your last day on Asgard. You had to get home before your birthday. Also Tony was sure to be worrying by then.He was so going to kill you, when he learned how Balder had hurt you. That was a problem for another day.

After dinner came the ball. It was a huge event filled with formal dancing. You hung to the sidelines, letting Loki dance with the various men of the court. She was having so much fun and you didn’t want to ruin it for her. Even Thor danced, though he lacked Loki's grace. Sif seemed to be having fun as well. A few brave men of the court asked you to dance and you accepted. You knew the court dances from Loki, and now knew why he had known the female as well as the male parts of the dances so well.

Loki came to you for the last dance of the evening and offered you a hand. "May I have this dance?" she asked. You raised a brow, but took her hand. She led you right out to the middle of the dance floor and took the male's position for the waltz. You smiled and took your own position as per usual.

/You don't mind leading this one?/ you asked, concerned she wouldn’t be happy with the arrangement.

"I would prefer to dance with my lady. I have had your fun tonight. Besides, it will entertain everyone," she replied in a whisper in your ear. You grinned. Of course she would be concerned about being fun and mischievous. The music started and you twirled around the room in graceful steps, your dresses twirling around you, just adding to the grace and beauty of the moment. People around you stopped dancing just to watch. You should have been nervous, or embarrassed, but it was so much fun that you just didn’t care about anyone else’s opinion.

The entire room applauded for you when the dance ended.You both curtsied deeply to them in reply, and in thanks for their applause and praise.

You walked back to your suite that night arm in arm, both giggling. Thor and Sif were right behind you. "Did you have a good day, little sister?" Thor asked Loki as you walked.

"I did," Loki replied, only a little stiffly, as if still expecting Thor to tease her.

"Tomorrow is the last day of your visit, is it not?" Sif asked.

We both nodded. "I must return Kathryn to her home before her birthday," Loki explained. "Plus her family will be worrying by now. We had not anticipated being gone for so long,"

You bid them goodnight when you reached their suite and headed down the hall to your own. You found a vial of Frigga's potion on the coffee table waiting for you. You sighed and glared at it. "Mother has found out that you do not like it when I spell you to sleep. She is willing to be the 'bad guy' so you do not get upset with me," Loki explained gently. You sighed and used magic to change into your pajamas before you took the potion. Your pajamas may or may not have been a tunic stolen from Loki's closet. Both he and Frigga were right that you needed the potion. You needed to not dream. That didn’t make you like it any better.But Balder could and would attack you if he could find his way into your dreams.

Loki didn't change back to male before you went to bed. You curled up with her anyway. Her heartbeat was the same in either form.You settled to sleep, safe in your Loki’s arms.

Loki was back to normal the next morning. "Thank you," he greeted you once you had opened your eyes.

/For?/

"Yesterday. For being supportive," he replied with a vulnerability you weren't used to from him.

/I love you. All of you/ you reminded him gently. He kissed you thoroughly in reply.

That day was a lot more subdued. You spent the entire day with Thor, Sif, and Frigga. Neither of you really wanted to leave, but you didn’t have a choice. You said our goodbyes the following morning. Frigga promised to continue the research on how to strip this power from you as well as on finding out what Balder’s plans were. You promised you would be back to visit and reminded them that they were always welcome to come visit you too.

You and Loki opened the portal back home together and waved goodbye one last time before you left Asgard.


	35. Chapter 35

Tony was waiting in the sittingroom of the compound for you when the portal materialized. /Told you we should have set the portal to my apartment/ you grumbled at Loki when Tony barreled into you, yanking you from Loki's grip as he held you tightly to him. You couldn't help laughing at Tony, though. He would never change.

"Kat! We were so worried. You guys were gone for so long with no word!" Tony exclaimed, panic in his ton.

You sighed and finally got free of his arms. [There was trouble] you signed at him. He had lived here and been friends with Veronica too, of course, since this was his tower. He'd actually been friends with her before you had moved in to the tower, before your parents had died. He may have even had a crush on her at one point.

"What trouble? Why are you signing?" Tony demanded, automatically signing along with his words. Veronica hadn't been gone long and the habit stuck from living with her. Old habits died hard.

You looked over at Loki. /Can you tell him what happened? It will take me forever to sign the whole thing/ Loki nodded his reply. /Thanks, I want to see if Veronica is home. Can you two survive alone together that long?/

/We will be fine, darling/ Loki answered with a smile. The smile was supposed to be reassuring, but you didn't trust Tony not to punch Loki in the face again.

[Loki will tell you] you signed to Tony. You used magic to change back to human clothes. You had missed your jeans in Asgard. You got used to wearing dresses there, but you were still _way_ more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. You kissed Tony's cheek, then kissed Loki which earned you a growl from Tony, then went to see if Veronica happened to be in the tower. She wasn't officially part of the team anymore, but she still had suites here and stopped by often to visit. Instead of knocking on her door, she had a doorbell that would flash the lights inside. You pressed it and waited. You only had to wait a moment before she came to the door. [You're here!] you signed excitedly.

[Kat!] she replied with a grin. You had been friends in the couple years you had both lived in the tower together. She tried to hide how lonely she was, but she had become your friend when you made an effort to sign out the conversations around you, and be her voice when she wanted to jump in and the loud supers weren't noticing.

[Can you come in? you need help] She stepped back to let you in with no hesitation. [Thanks]

[What trouble?] she asked. Even though she wasn't officially on the team right now, due to her very pregnant belly, she was still one of you and jumped right back in to emergency mode as easily as any of the rest of you. You briefly explained about your lack of ability to speak.

[Do you have any ASL books I can borrow?] your ASL was still really good, but you needed a wider vocabulary and needed to brush up on it. She pulled a few volumes from her bookshelf and handed them to you. You made your apologies after that. You had left Tony and Loki alone for too long already. She laughed at that and shooed you away to go rescue one or both of them.

She was right to shoo you off. You got back to them just in time. Loki was finishing his story about your kidnapping and how you had saved yourelf. "You were supposed to protect her!" Tony roared. You sighed and set the books down on your end table before calmly walking up to the boys. Tony pulled his hand back to punch Loki in the face. You swept in between them, shoving Loki back a step. Tony pulled his punch in time. You wouldn't have let him hit you, but you were glad he stopped anyway. That meant his temper could be dealt with. "Don't protect him, Kat," Tony snarled at you, reaching to shove you out of the way.

[Stop trying to hit him] you signed angrily. [This isn't his fault]

/Please do not do that again, darling. u\I would hate to have to hurt him for punching you/

/He won't punch me/ you thought back at Loki. /Not when he's mad at you. Besides, you won't protect yourself and I don't want to have to heal your nose when he breaks it. I like your nose the way it is/

"The hell it's not!" Tony roared. His hands were too busy singing his reply as he spoke that he couldn't form a fist again. That was a good thing. "He was supposed to protect you. You were supposed to go there and heal!"

[I did heal. You know Balder is bad. This is Balder's fault. If you want to hit someone, hit me for getting kidnapped] you weren’t comfortable using telepathy with humans. You had burned out someone's mind once already and didn't want to hurt someone you loved like that, so you were sticking to sign with the humans, unless telepathy was one of their powers. Loki promised to help you later learn how to speak to the others via telepathy.

Tony just pulled you into a hug instead. "Like yI would ever hurt you, imp," he replied. "He says they are researching how to fix this," you felt him gesture to Loki when he said that. You nodded against his chest. "We should tell Fury..." he hedged. You sighed, but nodded again. The three of you went to find Fury. He was in his office, so he wasn't hard to find.

You hadn't been in his office since you were grounded for turning all of the Avengers' costumes pink one summer. You weren't glad to be back either. That was almost as unpleasant of an experience as the day you got grounded for an entire summer for escaping your guards for an entire day. This place did not have good memories. "Soldiers," Fury greeted you when you entered.

"We have a report to give, and we’re _not_ soldiers,” Tony announced. You and Loki wisely let him take charge. He was highly regarded by Fury and much more used to dealing with him.Even if they did manage to piss each other off most of the time.

"Then give it," Fury replied curtly. Tony told the story this time. You were glad you didn't have to do it. Loki chimed in additional details when they were needed. Fury looked at you when they were done. "You know what I'm going to ask, Kat," he told you gently. Fury wasn't usually gentle, but he had experience with uncontrollable powers in the past. You nodded, you knew exactly what he wanted. There was only one thing he could ask for at that juncture. You shoved Tony into one of the chairs. You didn't want to have to catch his heavy ass when he passed out. You saw the glimmering green shield around Loki. He'd be safe.

/Careful, darling. They are human/ you nodded and opened your mouth, whispering just loudly enough for them to hear you. They were both unconscious slumped on Fury's desk a moment later.

It took them a few minutes to come back around, during which you were teaching Loki the annoying hand-clapping game you had taught to Thor. There was nothing to do but wait for them to come to, so you might as well have some fun.

"That was...educational..." Fury commented after he had come around. You went over to them now that they were awake and healed their bleeding ears. You could have done that earlier, but you hadn't wanted them to think you was exaggerating. "I will put R&D on looking for a solution. In the meantime, your classes start again day after tomorrow. We have told the university that you were on a mission for us. You will inform them of this development and that Loki will be accompanying you as translator. You will also be sticking to a work schedule from here on and the number of emergency healings you get called on will be very strictly monitored. I do not want the incident of a couple weeks ago to happen again," Fury ordered. You nodded meekly, not daring to go against his temper. "Dismissed, all of you,"

You swept from his office as quickly as possible. None of you wanted to be there longer than you had to be. You tapped Tony's arm to get his attention. [You ok?] you asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That's some curse you got from Balder…” he added. You rolled your eyes. That was an understatement.

[How's Pepper? Did she heal?]

“She was a whiny baby for a week," Tony whined. “She claimed she couldn't do anything for himself and demanded I take care of her. For everything." you laughed at his put-upon tone and Pepper taking advantage of Tony. “She’s in the office this morning, but she'll be back by dinner." you nodded your understanding. "Oh, your actor friends will be here tomorrow. Fury is actually letting Tom and Kelly into the compound for your birthday party," you nodded and grinned. It was always fun getting to see your nice normal human friends. They just happened to be famous actors. You really couldn't do anything normally if your only human friends were actors.

You and Loki spent the day pouring over the ASL books. You could study a whole lot faster now that you were soulbond. Everything one of you learned, the other did too. It was a great side effect.

Tony kept checking his watch as the afternoon wore on. You smirked at how adorable he was, waiting anxiously for Pepper to get back. Right before dinner, Pepper returned. Tony jumped up from the couch to go greet her, wrapping Pepper in a too tight hug. You laughed at Pepper's yelp of pain. You took pictures of them to immediately post to Facebook. “Tony! Let go!" Pepper yelped, a cat-tail appearing on her and puffing up.She was still getting used to having magic and didn’t always control her shapeshifting. Tony didn't let go until Pepper had kissed him. You was glad they were more comfortable with their relationship being in the open. Pepper came over to you when she saw you. You stood and hugged her too. "Kat! You're back!" she greeted you. You nodded. "How was your trip?" you started signing a reply, but then stopped when you remembered that Pepper hadn't lived here long enough to have learned.

/Lo?/ you called, drawing Loki's attention from his book.

"Sorry, Pep,” Tony jumped in while Loki was getting to his feet to come see what the trouble was. "I forgot you don't sign. I'm sorry! Everyone here learned when Veronica was living here permanently. I forgot you haven't been here that long. It feels like you've always lived here!" Tony added at Pepper's puffed up anger. Pepper was always around, but not _around_ around and hadn’t known Veronica well.“Anyway, Kat can't talk. It's nice to hear the quiet, actually," Tony stuck his tongue out at you. You reached up at grabbed it, glaring at him. Stupid uncle. Tony made a protesting noise, and spluttered, but couldn't get his tongue back from you.

"What is the matter, Tony?" Loki asked pleasantly. "Does a cat have your tongue?" he asked with mischief in his eyes. You saw the flash of green magic and suddenly Pepper was roaring in laughter. You looked over your shoulder at Loki, raising your eyes in question, until you felt the cat-ears on your head. You let go of Tony's tongue to reach up to feel them.

/Loki!/ you shouted indignantly. Loki just laughed and kissed you.

"I could not help it, darling. The joke was too good," he explained when he broke the kiss.

"Stop that," Tony growled at you. "Just because you're dating doesn't mean you want to see it or know about it." You just gestured between himself and Pepper. "That's different," he growled. You rolled your eyes. Stupid uncle.

/Put it back/ you thought at Loki.

"I will not," he replied pleasantly. you glared at him.

“Tony, her ears are prettier than mine!" Pepper whined, tugging on Tony's sleeve to get his attention. It wasn’t like Pepper, but sometimes the cat instincts took over, which was adorable, no matter how much she hated it.You looked over at them at laughed. A minute later your phone dinged. Pepper had taken a picture and posted it to Facebook. You giggled and immediately made it your profile picture.

"Never, Pep,” Tony replied exasperated. He pulled Pepper to his side and started petting Pepper's fluffed up cat-ears until his fiancé calmed, or forgot that he was joking. Pepper was such a handful and it amused you to no end that she's the one Tony fell in love with.

"I will show you how to remove them yourself," Loki placated you. He took your hand and magically showed you the process for shapeshifting. "I suggest you do not try to shift forms without me around until you get the hang of it," he added. You nodded, closed your eyes, and concentrated. The cat ears were gone in a moment later. You grinned at Loki when you had successfully done it. He gave you a smile in return. "Well done, darling,"

Your phone dinged again a moment later. You reached into your pocket. You had a text from Tom, the actor who played Loki in the Avengers movies. -It looks like you're back in town. Nice cat ears. Kelly and I got here a day early. Want to meet us for tea?-

-Of course we do. Just let us know where- you typed back. You showed your phone to Loki so he could read the messages.

"What?" Tony asked.

"It appears we are going out to meet our friends for tea," Loki explained. He used magic to change his clothes to jeans and a button down shirt. It was the closest you got him to casual when we were going out. You did manage to get him to wear a t-shirt out of the compound when we went to the amusement park, but that had been stupidly hard work. You stepped up on a box made of air so you could reach Loki's hair to tie it into a manbun for him. You left the magenta-red streak free, tucking it behind his ear. Loki turned around to kiss you when you were done. "It is nice to kiss you when we are the same height," he commented.

"Stop that!" Tony snarled, but you couldn't help but laughing when Pepper kissed him a moment later.

"Also, what's with your hair? Did you try dying it again?" Tony demanded. You shook your head.

"Lady Kathryn has gifted me with a lock of her hair, and I have done the same. It is a sign of love. Do not make fun, Tony," Loki explained, speaking firmly to defend you. You smiled and reached up to touch the lock of Loki's hair which grew among your own hair, tucking it back behind your ear.

Your phone dinged again when you stepped off the invisible box you had been standing on, which you promptly vanished, this time with the location of the coffeeshop Tom wanted to meet you at. "Kat, don't stay out too late. The kids want to watch Superhero Musical in honor of your return," Tony told you when you showed Loki the text.

You nodded. [We won't] you signed at him. Loki offered you a hand. You placed your hand in his and teleported the pair of you from the room before Loki had the chance it. You grinned at him when you arrived, proud of yourself. He laughed and leaned down to kiss you in reply.

You entered the coffeeshop and saw Tom and Kelly already waiting at a table for four. They had drinks for you already too. You waved and made your way through the crowded shop to sit with them. Loki pulled out your chair for you. Always the gentleman. Well, except for yesterday, but that was different.

"How have you been? We heard you were on a mission for the Avengers. It's been all over the news, people speculating on what it was," Tom asked you once you were settled.

[Can you tell him what happened?] you signed to Loki. You hadn't appreciated how difficult this meeting would be. You extra couldn't use telepathy on Tom and Kelly. They didn't have powers.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked, signing the words as he said them. You gaped at him. You hadn't expected him to know how to sign, especially not ASL, BSL maybe, but not ASL. He laughed. "It's a skill I picked up over the years. It seemed useful at the time." you laughed again.

[How are you not married already?] you signed at him. He was very nearly perfect. He looked away with color in his face. You jumped on him. [Who is she?] you demanded, all excitement. He just looked at Kelly.

"Do not tell the press," he told you firmly. You nodded and made the age-old gesture of zipping your lips. He laughed. "So, what happened while you were gone?" you sighed, but explained how you had been cursed with a power that hurt people when you spoke. Loki jumped in to add that it was Balder who had done it. Both Tom and Kelly appreciated that. They knew who Balder was from his actions here on Earth. "All your magic and you can't fix this?" Tom asked Loki.

Loki shook his head sadly. "Not yet. We are researching, but we do not know how Balder did this..."

[I'm fine. It's just a little inconvenient] you reassured them.

You chatted about your lives and what you’d been up to for an hour or so before you all had to go. You got delayed when the press got ahold of the fact that all four of you were there. You got stopped and had to take pictures. You posed nicely for exactly one picture. The rest of the pictures just included you being silly goofballs. You escaped before you had to sign every single slip of paper people could find.

When you arrived back in the commonroom, the group was already gathered for the movie. "C'mon, you two!" they called when you reappeared. You laughed, and you and Loki both used magic to change into pajamas for the movie. Everyone else was already in their pajamas. Tony growled when you were only wearing a tank top and pajama pants, but you glared at him in reply. He was only wearing pajama pants. Everyone was wearing pajamas, including Loki once he had seen that that's what everyone was wearing. You made your way over to Pepper first, while Loki settled himself on the couch. You looked over the scar on Pepper's chest, you could see the top of it just above the top of her tank top. It was light, not nearly as bad at the one on Loki's. You touched it gently, investigating it as a healer.

"I'm fine, Kat. You saved my life that day. I can handle a little beauty mark," Pepper reassured you, laughing.You sighed. You should have done better.

"Don't you dare start thinking that you should have done better," Tony snapped at you, knowing you too well. "You nearly died saving her life. I love you both and I am so grateful you both survived that day. You would have died, Kat, if you had done any more,” Tony reminded you. You nodded, but still went to curl up with Loki. You touched the scar on his chest too. Both wounds had been made my Balder. Tony had been wounded in the exact same manner, but you had enough power that day to heal Tony without a scar. Loki you had healed in the middle of battle, his scar was deep and obvious.

"You saved both of our lives that day, darling," he told you softly. "I wear the proof of our battle with pride," he added gently.

"Enough being sad!" one of the super kids called. They started the movie a minute later. Loki pulled you onto his lap and wrapped a blanket around the two of you. You laid your head on his chest so you could watch the movie in peace and listen to all of the kids sing along.

You sat up and stared when they all started signing along to the songs. Most of them were clumsy and missed half the words, except Veronica who was leading the sign-singing. It was amazing that they were willing to try, willing to make you feel included. You laughed and wrestled your arms out of the blanket so you could join along. The duet was hilarious with everyone trying to both sign and sign along to their parts.

Loki used magic and made two clones of himself, one male and one female so he could lead the song. You laughed the loudest at his antics. He also got the loudest applause when the song was over.

You stayed up late with our friends watching Avengers movies to the point where everyone fell asleep in the common room in a big heap of blankets, pillows, and tangled limbs. The Facebook page was overflowing with comments from the community the next morning. You blamed Fury for the pictures, especially when Tony, Loki, and you were the only ones whose faces could be seen in the pictures. You were the only ones whose secret identities were compromised.

That didn't mean you didn't have a separate Facebook page for your superhero alter-ego. You had to give the fans a safe way to contact you for fanmail or they got weird. All of you had social media pages for our superhero alter-egos. Except Loki, who didn't bother with an alter-ego.

You didn't have to worry about Fury's pictures that night, though. It was a comfort to be surrounded by your silly super family, cuddled between Loki and Tony in your heap of pillows and blankets. You were pretty sure your frozen toes were on Tony's stomach too. He didn't complain. He was just glad to have you home.


	36. Chapter 36

You woke to the feel of magic in the air.You were terrified for a moment that this was a nightmare since you didn't remember Loki spelling you to sleep. You had fallen asleep in a pile of bodies, pillows, and blankets. You sat up, earning a grumble from Pepper when she was moved. You sighed in relief. Pepper and your super friends wouldn't be in a nightmare from Balder. You made your way to your feet, still looking for where the feel of magic was coming from. You shook Loki awake, surprised he was sleeping through it. His eyes snapped open when you shook him. He jumped to his feet too once he felt the magic.Youstepped around the bodies of your friends to the other end of the common room where the feel of magic was coming from.

An instant later a portal opened in front of you. You drew a dagger and a fireThor in an instant. Loki had a dagger and a bolt of magic ready too. A figure stepped through the portal. It was Thor. You and Loki both vanished your weapons the moment you realized it was him. You hugged Thor the second the portal snapped shut behind him. /Thor! What are you doing here?/ Thor swung you around, like he hadn't seen you in ages, even though it had only been a day.

"Mother sent me to spend the day with you. She said today is your actual birthday, and sent you with a gift," Thor explained, setting you back on your feet. He then hugged Loki and swung him around too. Loki's curses and your laughter woke your friends.

Most of them groggily greeted Thor and filed off to their own beds to finish out the night there. It was only around 3am. Tony and Pepper stayed with us, though. "Pepper, you can go up to bed," Tony told Pepper, who was being carried by Tony. Pepper's tail was dragging almost to the floor. Pepper just made a small mewing noise and shifted more comfortably in Tony's arms. Tony just sighed.

"What gift did Mother send you with?" Loki asked Thor, curious. Neither of you asked how Frigga had known. She could see the future after all, and always seemed to find the exact thing people needed at any given moment.

"A spell that I am not allowed to share with you, Brother," Thor answered, though hesitantly. It was rare for Loki not to be allowed to learn new magic. “It has been cast, it just needs one final thing to activate. It is also only for today," he explained. "Sister, may I have a dagger?" Thor asked pleasantly. You handed yours to him without a thought. It was Thor after all.

"Blood magic?" Loki demanded indignantly. Blood magic was not allowed. It was outlawed on Asgard and Loki wasn’t even allowed to learn it. 

Thor shrugged. "I do not presume to understand such things," Thor hedged. He looked to me. "Mother's gift is for your voice. For the day. She is close to finding a proper cure. I volunteered to help. I wish to spend your birthday with you, little sister," you nodded and gave him a hug. "Please do not deny Mother's gift. She would be quite disappointed." You nodded again, but knew that there was a price to it, if he was telling you not to deny it. He was wisely not telling you what it was.He knew you too well.

"Brother, no. Blood magic is forbidden," Loki protested firmly. 

"Mother has insisted," Thor replied. Before Loki could protest again, Thor grabbed your wrist, flipping your hand over to see your palm. You bit back a noise of pain when he dragged the dagger across the skin of your palm. Tony and Loki both hissed in anger and took a step forward. Thor quickly sliced his own palm open, then placed his bleeding hand on top of yours so your blood mixed. He murmured one word, softly enough that Loki wouldn't be able to hear it. You felt and saw the magic flare. Thor nodded when the magic faded.

"It's...done?" you asked hesitantly, your voice cracking slightly with disuse. No one passed out. None of them were bleeding from their ears. You leapt for Thor and wrapped your arms around his neck. "Thank you!" you exclaimed.

Loki came over to the pair of you. "That was stupid, Thor," he commented. "Children, let me see your hands," he ordered. You both held out your still bleeding palms.It wasn’t like Loki to call you children.He must’ve been really upset.

You saw Thor's glare and caught his thoughts. _You're one to talk, little brother. _Thor didn't have telepathy, but he grew up with at least two telepaths, and had learned to communicate with them, the same was you had when you didn't have powers of your own.

Loki healed your palms, while you looked at Thor confused. "Why-?"

"He took the power himself for the day," Loki explained grumpily.

"Thor!" you yelled. "You shouldn't have done that!"

_We wanted to give you a happy birthday, little sister. Just accept the gift and say 'thank you'. It is just for one day._ Thor replied with a grin.

You bit back your emotions and nodded. You stood up on your toes to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you," you told him softly.

"How do you get her to do that?" Tony demanded. You all looked at him confused. "She's so...compliant," you glared at him for that.

"Thor has some bad habits that make arguing with him unwise," you replied grumpily.

"You will have to enlighten me before you go home," Tony told Thor with respect in his voice. 

"No!" You and Loki exclaimed at the same time. Thor just grinned. He then swept over and the next moment, you and Loki had been thrown over his shoulders. "Thor!" You complained, pounding on his back. He didn't let us down. Tony howled with laughter.

"Don't you dare!" you ordered Tony, who you could see get the same idea. You saw Pepper taking pictures from Tony's arms and couldn't help but laughing at what an amusing sight this was. Thor carried you upstairs. Tony followed behind, at least to his floor, carrying Pepper with him. Thor had been here plenty of times before and knew where your suites were. There were still a few hours before your birthday celebrations officially began, so Thor wanted you to sleep before them. Like that was going to happen. He set you on our feet outside of your suite's door. He gestured to Loki's suite across the hall. "Yes, you can stay in Loki's suite. He'll stay with me," you answered his question. He nodded and went to get a few more hours of sleep.

You and Loki went into your sitting room and closed the door firmly behind you. You wrapped your arms around his neck and wouldn't stop whispering how much you love him for a good ten minutes at least. He held you tightly to him. "I love you too, darling," he finally answered with a smile in his voice when your whispers had paused.

"Sorry, I missed being able to say that to you,"

He chuckled. "Darling, you never have to apologize for telling me that you love me," he replied. "Should I even bother trying to convince you to get some rest?" he asked with loving exasperation.

You shook your head. "No," you replied, pleasantly.

"Then what would you like to do?" he asked instead. You stood up on your toes and kissed him. Well. ”You do come up with the very best plans," he purred. You giggled and spent the next few hours between kissing and talking. You had missed this part of your relationship so much. You’d had kisses, of course, but the late night chats were a lot harder when one of you couldn't actually speak.

Tony burst into your sitting room, where Loki and you were sitting on the couch talking later that morning. It was still early, though. He had a balloon and a stuffed animal with him. He also had Pepper and Thor trailing behind him. "Happy birthday!" Tony announced, echoed by Pepper. you jumped up and hugged him.

"Thanks so much,” you replied, hugging each of them in turn.

"Get dressed, imp. It's time to get going," Tony grinned. You laughed and used magic to change your clothes to jeans, a dark green sweater, and your converse because you still loved them. You made sure your jewelry was in place, the two bracelets from Loki, the necklace of your mom's that we had saved from the fire with a silent apology to Sif that you weren't wearing her necklace, and the promise ring from Loki. You also made sure your dagger sheath was securely in place. You didn't go anywhere without it. You looked over at Loki. He had conjured outfits for himself and Thor. Thor was in jeans, a t-shirt and a red flannel shirt over it. It was strange to see Thor in Earth clothes, but they looked good on him. Loki was in jeans and an elegant sweater over a button-down shirt. Pepper was wearing a hat to hide the fact that she still had cat-ears. She had at least managed to vanish her tail. She still had trouble with her powers some days. "Imp, do you mind if Pepper comes with us today?" Tony asked nervously.

You shook your head. "Not at all. She's always welcome," you replied with a smile. Both Tony and Pepper lit up. Tony wrapped his arm around your shoulders. Yours automatically went around his waist. You walked that way downstairs and out to Tony's car. Thor, Pepper, and Loki were following behind.

The five of you went to the tiny hole in the wall breakfast place that had the best pancakes. Tony took you there every year on your birthday. The people that owned the place already had a table set up for us with balloons on it. You and Tony had been famous before your parents died. They were billionaires after all and did a lot for public works and were famous for it.You only got more famous when your parents died and Tony was outed as Ironman.You got even more popular when you became a super too.

You liked the restaurant.They always kept the reporters and fans away from you whenever you came. They recognized that a lot of the supers came to eat there, but they never outed anyone and never complained about how many pancakes you ate.

They quickly rearranged the table when they realized there were more than just you and Tony today. You were patient with them and thanked them immensely for making the adjustment. You and Tony were nothing but polite. Your parents would have killed you from beyond the grave if you weren't.

"Off the record, as usual dears, but how many supers are we feeding today?" the owner asked.

You laughed. "All of us," you replied with a smile. Loki and Thor weren't technically supers, but for the purpose of her question they counted. She wanted to know exactly how many of their pancakes you were going to eat.

The answer was all of them.

The owners never got annoyed with you, no matter how many pancakes you ate. You cheered at every new round and gave them constant praise. Also this was a once-yearly event and you brought them in a lot of business. You also paid a ridiculous amount of money, though they only ever tried to charge you for one order.

After breakfast, you went to the amusement park and arcade in the mall. You all acted like children, but it was so much fun. You did this every year too. You wandered the shops and Loki had to carry your bags. Tony had to carry Pepper's. Both boys looked so put-upon. Loki vanished the bags after the shopping was over. Tony was grateful he didn't have to lug everything back to the car and actually gave Loki a smile.

The next stop was the hardest of the day, but it was also the most important. You held Tony's hand while he drove you to the cemetery. You all lugged the picnic blanket, basket of food, alcohol for dad, and flowers for mom up to their graves.

"Hey! You kids can't play around here!" A security guard yelled as you climbed up toward their graves. You passed the flowers to Loki and Tony handed the bottle of alcohol to Thor. You were the best ones to take care of this without trouble. You walked down to the security guard. You touched Tony's hand. He nodded and let you take an extra step forward, so you were the focus.This time. 

"I apologize for any inconvenience, sir," you told the security guard with all of the innocent politeness you could manage. You were good and well practiced at this act. "My Uncle Tony and I just came to visit my parents, Eugene and Marilyn Stark. We promise we will not cause any trouble," you added with a radiant smile.

The guard looked you over. "Iron Man and Lady Sigyn," he finally said. Apparently 'lady' got added to your superhero name by the press. They must've been Avengers movie fans. You both nodded at his recognition. "I'm sorry for bothering you. We've been getting a lot of kids loitering here recently. I'll let security know to leave you alone," he added. You nodded again and thanked him, before walking back up to catch up with the others.

"Where did that act come from?" Tony asked.

You laughed in reply. "Just because you don't believe the innocent little girl act, doesn't mean security doesn't," you replied with a grin.

"Imp,"

"Silver tongue," you replied innocently. Tony chuckled and Loki laughed.

You took the flowers back from Loki and you finished your walk up to your parents' graves. The other three hung back when you and Tony went to greet your parents first. You used magic to clear off their graves and set the flowers in front of mom's. "Hi mom, hi dad. I'm sorry we haven't been to visit recently. Things have been busy, but we're doing such good work protecting the city," you started. You heard the ruffle of pages behind you and saw Loki with the spellbook. "Need help?" you asked. He shook his head. He had used this spell before, so you knew what he was planning. You also knew he had ended up unconscious for several hours after he held it too long on his own.

"This is a single caster spell," he answered as he distractedly flipped through the pages.

"Darling, we're soulbond, remember? I can give you power without affecting the spell," you reminded him, overly patiently. He looked up at you, shocked that you had remembered, or knew that piece of information. He gave you a small smile.

"Very well, but just a little," he relented. You went over to him and took his left hand in yours. With a bit of focus, you could donate some of your power to him through the soulbond. He smiled and recited the spell, bringing your parents back to corporeal form for the afternoon. You kissed him lightly in thanks, then ran for your parents.

You babbled at them for several minutes while Loki, Pepper, and Thor set out the picnic. Once you stepped back for air, they approached. "Mom, Dad, you remember Loki?" you asked when Loki stepped up. He bowed over your mom's hand to kiss her knuckles, then shook you dad's hand.

"It is a pleasure to see you again," he greeted them. They both replied how good it was to see him again and that they were glad the trouble back home was over.

"Loki's brother Thor has come to town for the day. He came by to say hi to you last time we were here,"

"We remember," mom cut you off before you could continue babbling. "It's nice to see you in person," Thor stepped up to kiss her knuckles too.

"Sorry, mom. Thor can't talk today..." you briefly explained about Thor and the curse. Your mom reached up to touch his cheek.

"Thank you for your sacrifice today on our daughter's behalf. It is nice to know there are others looking after her. She's always so busy looking after everyone else that you know she forgets to take time for herself,"

"Mom~" you groaned, rolling your eyes. Loki, Thor, and Tony all laughed at you.

"And the infamous Pepper Potts,” your mom said as she greeted Pepper.

You enjoyed your picnic lunch. The boys all shared the bottle of alcohol with dad. We chatted all afternoon, catching your parents up on what they'd missed since you had visited last.

_Is this a common tradition on Earth? To have a picnic at a gravesite?_ you heard Thor's question.

"No, it's not typical to have a picnic at a gravesite," you answered, speaking directly to him, but repeating his question so everyone would know what had been asked. "I'm weird. Always have been. I was just a kid when they died." Really, you had been 13, but you knew that was just a kid. That was a lot of innocence ago. "I insisted that they could hear me and from there we got to having picnics here while Uncle Tony and I talked to them. It's really unusual. Usually people just visit for a couple minutes, say a prayer, and leave," you added.

"You're chatty today," Tony commented.

You glared at him and stuck your tongue out. "I haven't had a voice in weeks. Let me enjoy it," you grumbled at him.

He laughed at me.

"Children," you mom said in a warning tone. You laughed, but it was nostalgia of hearing that word in that tone again. Your mom turned to you and Loki. "So, when are you two getting married?" she asked.

You blushed and looked away. "Mom! He hasn't even asked yet!" you protested. "Don't put him on the spot," you grumbled. Loki would ask when he was ready. You were sure he would be planning some extremely romantic gesture for it too. "Besides, by his world's standards, we're already married," you reminded her, showing her the soulbond marks on your arm.

"Yes, but by our world's you're not. I would like to be able to see my daughter happily married," your mom replied.

You sighed and rolled your eyes.

"It will happen, Lady Stark,” Loki replied formally, pulling you closer to him long enough for him to kiss the top of your head.

"Bother Uncle Tony and Pepper about getting married then," you grumbled.

"We will when we’re ready,” Tony protested while Pepper turned red and hid her face in Tony's shoulder.

You had another hour before you noticed Loki getting too pale, felt that his power levels were too low. He nodded when he caught that you were looking. "Apologies, darling, but I cannot hold the spell any longer. It is time to say your goodbyes," he confirmed. You gave him a kiss before you and Tony stood so you could say your goodbyes properly. There were tears all around, but everyone said goodbye and Loki's spell ended.

"Thor, make sure Loki stays on his feet. That spell packs more of a punch than he likes to admit," you called to Thor. You used magic to clean up your picnic, and you and Tony made sure the flowers on your mom's grave were neat and you dad had one last drink poured out for him. You and Tony said one last goodbye before you turned to leave with the others.

"I'm fine, Thor!" Loki kept grumbling at Thor, who did not take your orders as they were said, but instead had thrown Loki over his shoulder. At least Loki hadn't passed out this time.

Tony drove you to ice cream after the cemetery in an attempt to cheer everyone up. Loki was asleep, using Thor's shoulder as a pillow before you had even left the cemetery. You turned around from the front seat, smiled, and took a picture. Your soulbond was absolutely adorable.

Your ice cream was subdued. It was always hard after you visited your parents. Loki pretended not to be as asleep on his feet as he was. That spell was really draining. You grinned at him and lifted his left hand. He wasn't paying attention to what you was doing, which was typical, as long as it was you messing with him. You placed your lips to the soulbond marks on the back of his hand and felt the pulse of magic and energy in the soulbond. Loki gave you a look, but it turned quickly into an exasperated smile when he realized you’d fed him magic.You enjoyed your ice cream, and by the end everyone was joking and laughing again.

You returned to the compound for more ice cream and cake with our super family. Tom and Kelly met us at the door. "Fury said your party was being held here tonight," Tom greeted you.

"It is. I'm glad you guys could come," you told them. You reached out a hand. "Sorry, Fury said I have to hold your phones until you leave. He's very particular about what pictures can be taken inside the tower.” They both handed over their phones to you without complaint. You had to explain quickly how Thor was taking the curse for you for today so you could enjoy your birthday. You and Loki gave them a tour of the tower, including places the cameras had never been allowed, like your suite, Loki's suite, and the infirmary. Thor came with you. Tony and Pepper went to go do...something. You weren't sure you wanted to know what it was.

"Kat? Can you spare a second for a healing?" Julia asked when you entered the infirmary. "I know it's your birthday..." she hedged. "But this kid's in bad shape,"

You looked over at Tom and Kelly. "You guys don't mind, right? You can watch," you added. They shook their heads. You had the feeling they were both excited to see magic up close. You rolled up your sleeves. "Where is he?" you asked Julia.

"Bay 1. Claire is with him," you nodded, your back straightening automatically. This was your zone and you were used to being in charge here. You led the way to the emergency bay where the battered preteen lay in the bed. "Thor, don't let Loki try to help," you called over your shoulder. "What happened?" you demanded of Claire.

"He jumped from the Metropolis building. Second one today. Fantasia caught the first one, this kid wasn't so lucky," Claire answered. You nodded and called up the healing magic. Both of your hands glowed blue when you did. You took a breath and placed both hands on the kid. He was in awful shape and should have been very very dead.

"Kat, let me help," Loki ordered, struggling against Thor who was holding him away from the bedside. Tom and Kelly were both watching in awe as the kid's bones healed, his wounds sealing shut as they did. "Thor, get off me," Loki grumbled. You tuned him out. He was already drained from earlier. Besides, you could handle this. You healed the kid completely.

"Make sure Fury gives him hell for jumping off the building," you told Claire.

"We always do," she replied. "Thanks, Kat. Go enjoy your birthday," she and Julia both shooed you from the infirmary before another emergency could come in. Loki had gotten free of Thor and wrapped an arm around your waist.

"I'm fine, Lo," you told him, smiling up at him.

"You should have let me help," he replied grumpily.

"You drained too much of your power already today," you countered. He sighed and kissed the top of your head as you walked back to the common room.

You had cake, ice cream, and pizza with your friends and family. Then came presents. As per usual, you received mostly books from your friends. Tony gave you a signed copy of the first Harry Potter book. It even had a personalized note from the author in them. "How did you get this?” you asked as you fangirled over the book.

"Made a few calls. Being a famous superhero opens some doors," he shrugged, but was pleased by your reaction.

"It doesn't compare," Tom said apologetically as he pulled out his wrapped present. You opened it to find a DVD, one of those recordable ones.

You grinned at him. "Is this what I think it is?" you asked. He nodded. Your grin only grew. It was the next Avenger’s movie, the one they had been shooting at the tower. "How'd you get this so fast?"

"They've been working on it for months. We just came back to film a couple additional scenes they threw in at the last minute," he explained.

"I have a feeling you're going to like the rest of tonight's activities," you told him with a mischievous grin.

"I am sure I will," he replied. Thor and Loki had already given you their gifts. There was only one left.

You picked it up and opened it and turned about ten different shades of red when you had to pull the item out of the box. It was lingerie. A whole shit-ton of lingerie. "Who-?" you managed to get out. Nat was the one laughing her head off. “Nat!” you yelled indignantly.

"Your boyfriend deserves for you to have nice things!" she protested innocently, while Tony pretended he was going to throttle her. You couldn't help laughing, but vanished the box quickly up to your bedroom.

"C'mon, Kat! Time for movies!" the kids called once the laughter had died down.

"Have you seen Superhero Musical?" you asked Tom and Kelly as you all made your way over to the TV. You and Loki got the loveseat of honor. There was another loveseat moved over for Tom and Kelly, since they were guests. Everyone else settled on couches, pillows and beanbags in front of the TV.

"No, we haven't," Tom replied.

"You're in for a treat," you replied with a grin. The movie started and both Tom and Kelly were laughing about five minutes in when the entire crowd of supers around them started singing along.

"I never knew the Avengers were like this," Tom said after the movie, when he had listened to you all evening hanging out like normal teens and young adults.

"Not everyone sees this side of us, but we're people too," you replied, while Clint swapped out the movies. "I apologize in advance for this," you told Tom. You knew what movie was next. Tom laughed when he realized what it was.

About thirty minutes into the movie Nat paused the movie and the entire crowd stared at Loki and Tom. "Why are they staring at me?" Tom asked you nervously.

You sighed. "They want you to say the line,"

"Both of them!" the crowd called.

"Have it be a contest!"

"Sig! Make them do it!"

You laughed and got to your feet. "C'mon boys, you heard them," you hauled Loki to his feet. "You first, you're prepared for this." you told him. You shoved him toward the table that was always his stage. He used magic to change his clothes to the Loki costume, including the golden horned helmet and stepped up on the table to deliver the line.

"I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose. Kneel before me," he hesitated for a moment. "I said KNEEL!" he bellowed. The crowd roared in approval and applause. Loki stepped down from the table and bowed to Tom. You pulled Tom to his feet next, Kelly shoved him up too.

"Would you like the costume too?" you asked, offering Tom a hand. He hesitated, but fun won out. He nodded. You used magic to summon the costume on him. He stepped up on the table to deliver the line for the crowd as well. You took plenty of pictures of both Lokis, especially when your Loki stepped back up on the table so they could deliver the line at the same time. It was hilarious.

The crowd determined it was a tie on who performed better. Both Loki and Tom took a bow and returned to their seats, the magic fading from their clothes as they did so they were back in normal clothes.

You walked Tom and Kelly out of the tower after the Avenger’s movie and gave them their phones back. You sent them the pictures from your phone that they were allowed to have and thanked them again for coming.

The second they were gone, you put in the new DVD Tom had given you so you could all get an early viewing of the new Avengers movie. You all laughed and cheered when you and Loki were on screen during the couple of scenes you had helped out with. Including the kiss scene.

After that movie, Loki swept you up into his arms and carried you upstairs to cheers from the crowd, and a glare from Tony, so you could enjoy the last hours of Frigga's gift with kisses and conversation with Loki.


	37. Chapter 37

You were rudely awoken about thirty minutes after you and Loki had finally gone to bed by someone pounding on your sittingroom door. You and Loki had stayed up talking until the very moment that Frigga's spell had faded. You hadn’t wanted to waste a moment of having your voice back.

You went to see who it was, leaving Loki sleeping. You were a little surprised he hadn't woken, but he had used a lot of magic yesterday and it had been a long day. You _did_ take a moment to note how adorable he was while he was sleeping. You also drew a dagger before you opened the door. You were grumpy at being woken, but not stupid.

Tony was standing outside of your sittingroom. You sheathed the dagger when you realized it was him and just glared at him, wondering what on Earth was so important that he had to wake you at 3:30am. "Kat, good. There's an- what are you wearing?" Tony asked, staring at your outfit. You looked down to see what you was wearing. You didn't remember what you had put on thirty minutes ago to fall into bed. You had stayed up way too late so none of Frigga's spell got wasted, and you hadn't paid attention to what you threw on for bed. No wonder Tony was upset. You were wearing one of Loki's button-down shirts, and no pants. You gestured to his outfit, which was a pair of boxer shorts and nothing else. He glared. You stepped back to slam your sittingroom door in his face and go back to bed. "No, sorry. Kat, there's an emergency. It's Veronica." Those words stopped you cold.You stepped out of your sittingroom, grabbed him by the arm and teleported the pair of you downstairs to the infirmary. "I hate when you do that," Tony growled. He wasn't used to teleporting yet.

"Bay 2!" Julia called when she saw you teleport in. You nodded brusquely and ran for the emergency bay, dragging Tony along behind you.

You skidded to a halt at Veronica's bedside. The sight that awaited you was horrible. She had been gutted. You had seen wounds like this before, but you couldn't deal with that now. Both she and her unborn baby were in dire danger. You shoved your sleeves up and placed your glowing hands on her, throwing healing power into her and the baby, trying to save them both.

You had to take a risk then. /Claire, get Loki. He's asleep in my suite. I need him here now/ you hated using telepathy with those who didn't have telepathy as a power. You were afraid of hurting them. You didn't have a choice now. Your hands were too preoccupied trying to keep Veronica alive that you couldn't sign. You needed Loki's help with this healing. You projected your thoughts so Claire and Tony could both hear you, it was less dangerous that way than it would be connecting directly with their minds. Claire created a portal and disappeared into your bedroom.

"I thought healing was a... what was it?...single caster spell?" Tony asked while you worked.He was trying so hard to understand magic.

/It usually is. Unless the healers have worked together for years to be able to pull of the harmony needed to not interfere with the other's work. Loki and I are soulbound. He can jump in and not affect the working/ you explained to Tony quickly. Claire dragged Loki back through the portal a moment later. He looked like she had literally dragged him out of the bed. He saw you elbows deep in blood and healing magic and instantly came to your side. He jumped into healing mode just as quickly as you had. /Help!/ you invited Loki, more of an order than an invitation. However, it was rude to jump into a magical working without a formal invitation. His hands glowed green and he had them on Veronica an instant later. His healing powers weren't as strong as your, since you had your own healing power, plus the power you had gotten from him, but you needed the help on this healing.

/I have the baby/ Loki told you. You could focus your attention on Veronica if he was keeping the baby alive. You shifted your focus. You had healed this exact same wound exactly three times previously. You knew in the back of your head where it had come from, but you were too preoccupied with the healing to consider it fully at the moment. You knew this wound intimately, though, which made it easier to heal. It was still a hell of a healing.

After over an hour of work and non-stop healing, you managed to get both Veronica and the baby healed. Tony wrapped his arms around you to keep you standing once the blue glow disappeared from your hands. You sagged against him, but was careful not to touch him with your blood soaked hands. "Kat?" he asked, concerned. "Are you ok?" you nodded, but couldn't reply any better. "Liar," he scolded gently. He lifted you gently into his arms. You looked frantically for Loki. He had drained himself with that healing too. He was still standing on his own, though. "Do either of you know why Balder would be targeting Veronica?" Tony asked. At least he was smart enough to know that this was Balder’s work.

Loki blinked quickly, trying to focus. He had drained too much in this healing too. "It was a warning," he finally replied. "A warning to us." His words were less elegant, more blunt, but you could tell he was having trouble finding the right words, especially in English.Yes, he had Allspeak, but he had to concentrate on it.“Balder wants Kat for his master plan. He hurt someone who cannot speak, like Kat cannot speak, to let us know that he is here and he is coming for her,"

"Would you speak English?" Tony growled at Loki. Loki just blinked, confused. You realized he had been speaking his native Asgardian once Tony spoke. He was too out of it to realize. And you hadn’t realized because of _your_ Allspeak and the soulbond.You sighed and somehow got Tony to put you down so you could sign out a translation for what Loki had said. You wrapped your arms around Loki's waist when you had finished so you could hold each other up. "Claire, make a portal back upstairs for them. We'll talk more about this tomorrow when you two aren't so dead," Tony told you. You nodded and made your way through Claire's portal. Loki started looking better as soon as you were safely back upstairs.

/You ok?/ you thought at him.

"I am alright, darling. That was just a larger healing than anticipated. Holding babies to this world before they are even born is not an easy feat," he explained.

/Tell me about it/ you groaned. You looked down at what had once been a perfectly white shirt. It was now soaked in blood. /I owe you a new shirt/ you commented. Loki chuckled.

"I will just create a new one. It is no trouble," he replied. "You can have the first shower," he offered. You were both thinking more clearly now, still exhausted, but at least able to function.

/Just join me/ you suggested, though the thought made you turn all sorts of shades of red. Maybe even the magenta-red of your hair. /It will get us both back to bed faster/ you added. Then stopped dead when you realized how that sounded. /I meant for sleep!/ you added quickly. Offering to let him shower with you was enough of a step for one day. He spun you to face him. You looked up into his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked softly, gently. "We do not have to do this," he reminded you.

/We need to get the blood off of us and I don't want you waking me when you climb back into bed/ you answered, pragmatically. He gave you a look. He didn't believe your answer.He was so careful since you’d been raped before.You appreciated it, though you trusted Loki and knew he wouldn’t hurt you or press you farther than you were comfortable with.

"I will gladly help you get the blood out of your hair," he replied with a gentle smile. "As long as you are sure." He was overly cautious and overly patient. You just wanted to go to bed and you both needed to get the blood off of you to accomplish that goal.

/How does blood always end up in my hair?/ you grumbled and stepped into the bathroom. You got the shower started and kept your back turned to Loki as you stripped off his shirt that you were wearing. You vanished it to the trash. It was beyond ruined, also technically a biohazard. You stepped into the steaming hot shower and just stared at the drain when the water ran red. There was so much blood.

You stiffened when Loki joined you, but he was a perfect gentleman, as usual, and just scrubbed the blood from your hair while grumbling about how you managed to get blood in your hair in the first place. You tried not to look at him, not here, this was a purely pragmatic activity for getting clean so you could sleep before you had to go to class in the morning. You couldn't help it though, and you very much appreciated the view. You blushed and turned back to to facing the wall. This was pragmatic, not remotely sexy or romantic, you reminded yourself a few more times while you scrubbed and scrubbed the blood off of your arms and the rest of you it had somehow gotten on. You did look once at Loki to make sure there was no blood on him that he couldn't reach himself. That was of course the only reason.It couldn’t be that you wanted to see a naked Loki.That would just be ridiculous.There wasn't any blood on him, so you slipped out of the shower as soon as you were clean, leaving Loki the rest of the hot water and wrapping yourself in a big fluffy towel. you went back to your bedroom and pulled a pair of pajamas from your dresser. You didn't feel like using magic you didn't need to waste just to summon clothes. Loki had summoned a pair of pajama pants to wear when he returned to the bedroom a couple minutes later.

You curled back up in our usual position in the bed, with your head on his chest so you could listen to his heartbeat. "Thank you," he whispered as he held you safely in his arms.

/For?/ you asked him only half-awake at best.

"Trusting me in there," he gestured vaguely to the bathroom. "And for calling for my help," he added. You nodded. It was impressive that you had actually called for his help. You usually forced your way through on your own.

/I love you/ you replied, though the words just didn't have the same feel when they were said telepathically. You knew he felt the difference too.


	38. Chapter 38

Early the next morning, you and Loki had to make the portal to send Thor back home. He was livid when he found out about your 3:30am healing, but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't stay here any longer, either. He had duties back home and had only been able to leave for your birthday. "We will find a cure, little sister," he promised you before he stepped through the portal. You watched as it snapped closed behind him with a twinge of sorrow as you would miss him. He was a great friend and adopted older brother. He promised they would call you home to Asgard as soon as they found a cure. You smiled, glad that he thought enough of you to consider Asgard as your home as well.

You dragged Loki up to the infirmary after Thor had left so you could check on Veronica. You wanted to make sure all of your 3am healing took. Thankfully it had, she was asleep when you arrived, but the other healers assured you that she and the baby were both doing just fine. They shooed you from the infirmary as soon as they’d given you the update.Julia was terrified that Fury or Tony would find you there. Apparently you were forbidden the infirmary anymore that day after the huge healing you had done the previous night. They really were keeping track of how much time and power you spent there.

"When is your first class?" Loki asked as you wandered to the kitchen to get breakfast. You got the biggest mug of coffee Helene had to offer. She gave you a disapproving look, but you flashed her a big reassuring smile and she let you have your coffee, as well as a huge plate of pancakes. You nodded your thanks and took your plate of pancakes to your usual table. You grinned when Loki sat across from you.

/Just like old times/ you thought at him. You had breakfast just like that almost every morning for the year you had both lived in the Tower together.

"Why are you two awake?" Tony asked when he joined you, pulling up a chair to sit at your two-person table.

[I have class] you signed at him. [I can't miss any more classes this semester] you had only gotten out of the classes you had missed because Fury had told the school you were on an urgent mission for the Avengers. He wouldn't help you skip classes for anything less than an emergency. Tony glared at you.[I just have two classes today. We'll be back by 1]

"Fine. Just be careful," Tony replied.

You rolled your eyes. [It's going to suck] you signed, finally betraying some of your emotions to him.

"You like school," Tony reminded you.He was wrong, of course, but he was a moronic genius who tried to hard

[I want to be a qualified doctor] you corrected. [I doubt anyone there signs, and I'm already weird and a celebrity]

"Darling, it will be fine. I will be there to translate, and keep you company, and Mother is looking for a cure. She will find one soon, I am sure. Thor said that she was on the right track. He would not lie," Loki added. You gave him a small smile, but you were still worried. "When is your first class?" he asked again.

[Sorry!] you signed. You had forgotten he had asked. [It's at 9] you glanced at the clock and shoved your pancakes into your mouth faster. You didn't have a whole lot of time. You stood and vanished your plate back to the kitchen. You used more magic to change your clothes from pajamas to your jeans, converse, and a hoodie stolen from Loki's closet. Loki gave you a disapproving look at how grungy you looked, especially in his oversized hoodie.

"You are going out like that?" he asked.

You rolled your eyes. /I'm a college student, Lo. This is how we dress/ you thought at him as you summoned your school bag, which had your laptop.

He sighed. "I can summon you something nicer," he offered. You could tell he missed the dresses of Asgard. You sighed and held out your hand.

/Fine, but nothing too fancy. This is school/ you told him. You couldn't help smiling when his expression lit up. /Nothing fancy!/ you reminded him. /No dresses/ you added for safe measure. He summoned a perfectly tailored pair of jeans instead of the fwumpy old ones you had been wearing and a soft green sweater that fit equally as well. At least he left you your converse. You reached up to braid your hair out of your way, but he spun you around quickly so he could do it himself. You just laughed while Tony rolled his eyes and made fake retching sounds. You flipped him off for his effort. You touched Loki's cheek and used magic to give him an outfit too, a pair of jeans, a white button-down shirt, and a black tie and suit jacket. He looked at you confused, expecting that you would pick something more casual. You did his hair in a quick manbun, as that was the American standard for what to do with long hair on men. /It's appropriate since you're technically working as a translator/ you explained. /Plus you look nice in a suit/

"Only nice? My lady wounds me." He held his hand to his heart with a mock-expression of pain.

You laughed at him. /Fine. You're hot and the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on. Does that please you, peacock?/ you replied with more laughter.

"Whatever you two are talking about, knock it off before I puke," Tony grumbled.

You laughed and bent down to kiss his cheek. [See you after school] you signed at him.

"You're staying here?" he asked.

[For now] you had your own apartment off campus, but you felt better right now staying in your suite here in the compound.

"See you later then, imp, other imp," he directed the last to Loki, who nodded and offered you his hand in formal escort. You laughed and placed your hand on his. After the first step we took, he teleported you to the coffeeshop on campus.

/You're a genius/ you told him as you stepped inside the coffeeshop. You could use more coffee. You walked up to the counter and found that your order was already being made. You weren't terribly surprised. You ordered the same thing every time you went there.

"What did you order for me last time?" Loki asked you when you had reached the counter. You signed back the reply and he placed the order with the barista. You paid for both of your drinks and you waited by the other counter.

"Sigyn, your order is ready!" the barista told you. You smiled and took your cup from her with a nod of thanks. You never placed your orders under your superhero name, but they always gave it to you that way anyway. "Loki, yours will be right up," she added. Loki thanked her. It was only a minute more before he had his drink as well. You grabbed his tie and pulled him from the coffeeshop by it when he pretended to flirt too hard with the barista. Everyone laughed at your antics.

You led the way to your first class. /I'm going to have so much homework/ you whined at Loki. You’d been gone for two weeks.

Loki just laughed. "No, you will not," he replied with a grin.

/You did it?/ you accused. He tried to look innocent. You just laughed. /You're so bad at the innocent look, but thank you/

"You are welcome, darling,"

You took seats together in the small classroom your first class was in. This was the class you were afraid of. The professor didn't like you already because you was a celebrity, and in a stupidly accelerated program. You didn't think he'd take the fact that you couldn't talk well.

"I don't allow visitors in my class," the professor announced when he walked into the room.

[This is Loki. He's my interpreter. You can't deny my right to have him here] you signed quickly. Loki translated flawlessly, getting your tone in the words. The professor looked like he was going to argue. [This has already been approved by the dean] you added. Even he couldn't fight with the dean.

/What is a dean?/ Loki asked you after he had translated your words.

/The leader of the school/ you replied. The professor couldn't argue that, especially in front of all of the other kids. They all loved you and would fight for your rights if you wouldn't do it youself. You was just glad this class was graded entirely by multiple guess exams. You could get out of here with your A in a couple months. The professor kept asking you questions throughout the class, as if trying to trip you or Loki up. It was a useless endeavor on his part. He didn't realize you could just tell Loki your answers telepathically if he couldn't read the signs. He had no trouble, though and it just frustrated the professor even more. It would have been comical if it weren't so annoying.

You were glad when class was over and you strolled to the student center with Loki to kill time until your next class. /Are you hungry?/ you asked on the way. It wasn't quite late enough for lunch, but you knew his metabolism, especially after the magic he had gone through yesterday.

"I could eat," he answered, which you took to mean that he was hungry. So you stopped by a little hamburger stand on the way to the student center. You thought Loki would hate the place on principle, since it was a greasy delicious college hamburger stand, but he surprised you by actually enjoying the burger.

/I love this place. Best greasy hamburgers in town/ you explained. He raised an eyebrow as you shoved a handful of the best french fries in the city in your mouth. /What? Surely the women on Asgard crave junk food too/

He sighed. "Next you will be demanding chocolate," he said with a mock whine. You just smiled at him.

/Like you wouldn't summon all of the chocolate in the city if I asked for it/ you replied.

"You are right, of course," he conceded with a smile.

You hung out in the student center where Loki got to watch all of the college students while you caught up on social media and emails. You had missed a lot while you was in Asgard. you should have been doing homework, but social media was way more important. You would do the homework later. You had pictures to tag yourself in on social media, friends to catch up with, and school emails to make sure you read.

You second class of the day was much better than the first. Loki was welcomed by the professor, who absolutely adored you. She was a fan of the Avengers and knew Loki as well as you. He was a celebrity too, after all. She asked you a couple of questions, but you thought that she just wanted to watch you sign than actually do anything malicious.

You were still glad when classes ended and you could teleport home. The second you were safely back, you set your schoolbag next to your spot on your usual couch in the common room and magically changed your clothes back to pajamas.

You settled yourself in your spot on the couch and pulled out your laptop to do homework. Loki summoned a book to read. He was also in pajama pants and a t-shirt. You could get him to wear casual clothes around the tower, even if he wouldn't wear them outside.

The commonroom soon got crowded when the kids and teens started coming home from school and the older supers were coming back from patrol. You looked over at Loki with a grin. /Want to have a little fun?/ you asked with a mischievous smile.

/Always/ he replied, not bothering to look up from his book. You gave him your plan quickly, without bothering to explain why it would be fun. /I hope this is as good at you are suggesting/ he told me.

He stood up on the seat of the couch, drawing everyone's attention before he announced: "The floor is lava!" you tucked your feet up on the couch and laughed along with Loki as you watched all of the supers leap onto the nearest piece of furniture, or their neighbors and friends. Some used their powers to fly, teleport, or stick to the walls. Four people ended up on one small coffee table, all clinging to each other so they didn't fall off. You laughed when they all toppled over and had overly dramatic 'deaths' in the lava.

Nat calmly walked over to one of the couches. "I'm a fire demon. I'm immune to lava," she announced. You and Loki laughed, allowing it since she was Nat.

The game ended and everyone went back to what they were doing. "Does everyone know this game?" Loki asked in delight after it was over.

You shrugged. /I think every American kid does/ you replied, already planning the next game, and silently apologizing to Loki because he was going to lose.

You got up to put a movie in the DVD player, and placed one finger to your ear as you were walking back to the couch. Someone saw you and mimicked your movement. Soon the entire room had their finger against their ear, as if we were all getting a message in an earbud. You grinned at Loki who was busy with his book and hadn't noticed your antic until he caught your mood shift. He looked up just in time to get tackled to the floor. "Get down, Mr. President!" the supers yelled as everyone leapt on top of him, pinning him to the ground. You laughed and kissed his cheek while you were both pinned. You had been the first one to tackle him, and ended up on the bottom of the pile.

"What's going on in here?" one of the older supers asked, seeing your dogpile.

"Mr. President was in danger," one of the kids replied as our pile slowly dispersed.

"Of course. Who was the unlucky President today?" he asked warmly.

"Loki,"

"Well that's hardly fair. Poor guy probably doesn't even know the game."

"Kat started it!" the kids protested. You all started laughing while you helped Loki back to his feet and gave him a proper kiss in apology.

"Silly Trickster," he whispered in your ear, sending a shiver down your spine.

/I learned from the best/ you replied. He gave you an elegant bow, accepting the praise. You laughed and explained the rules of the game to him, so he would be prepared next time.

"What are you guys up to?" Tony asked, seeing the room in chaos as everyone tried to get back to their places from our latest game.

"The floor was lava, and then I was the President," Loki answered calmly as you finally got to settle back in our places on the couch. Tony roared in laughter.

"I would have paid to see you get tackled by the entire group, Mr. President," Tony chuckled. He didn't notice until he saw you make the movement, that everyone had put a finger to their ear and he was the last one. He tried to run, but it was too late.

"GET DOWN MR. PRESIDENT!" Roared the crowd as Tony was tackled to the floor.

"I am going to kill you for starting this, imp," Tony grumbled at you.You held up your hands innocently.

[I didn't say anything] you signed indignantly once everyone had removed themselves from Tony. You also healed someone's nose that had gotten smashed in the excitement. Mr. President was not the safest game ever.

"Kat, we need you and Loki to go out on patrol tonight. Freeza and Nebula caught that stupid flu that's going around," Fury greeted you at dinner that evening. You and Loki nodded and agreed to go on the patrol. Loki was always your patrol partner when he was in town. You worked well together and had fairly complimentary powers, plus a stupid amount of healing power between the two of you. Fury gave you your patrol route and left. He didn't socialize...ever.

As soon as you were done eating, you put your dishes away and changed into your armor. You made sure your dagger sheath was in place, then took Loki's hand so you could teleport to the start of your patrol route.

You spent most of the evening just walking the streets of the warehouse district in uniform. Of course there were absolutely no illicit kisses during patrol. None whatsoever. You would never do such a thing.

You _did_ come across some robbers trying to rob a bank. You just smiled at Loki. /Shield/ You told him before the robbers noticed you. He smiled and you saw the flicker of green light around him. You stepped into the bank and the robbers turned to face you.

"Hello boys," you greeted them. Before the second word was out, they were all on the ground unconscious. Loki made the call in to the cops, not knowing if the curse from Balder would work across the phone line. Neither of you wanted to take the chance. The cops picked up the robbers, who were still unconscious. This curse from Balder sucked, but it did make patrol a bit easier in this one case.

The next fight you came across was a lot harder, since there were too many civilians around for you to use that particular power. There was a trio of bad guys, including a firestarter. You and Loki took out the firestarter easily. He wasn't the problem. The super strength guy got his hands on you and threw you into a nearby wall hard enough to break bones through your shielding. You cursed under your breath, throwing fireballs and daggers with your unbroken arm. The third one was throwing lightning at Loki and all of Loki's illusions and clones. You cursed again silently and threw up walls of flames around the two remaining villains, buying you a little time. The civilians were busy taking pictures and video. Just what you needed when you were both bleeding and bruised, and your arm was hanging limp at your side.

You speed dialed the cops and summoned a bunch of heavy chain. You let the flame die around the super strength man and used your telekinesis to wrap the chains around him as quickly as you could, using fireballs aimed at him to keep him from being able to fight the chains. He couldn't fight both at the same time. Loki had the lightning super disabled at the same time. It didn't take the cops long to arrive to collect the villains. You and Lokiwaved to the crowd and he teleported you out of there and back to your suite in the compound.

"Did you forget to shield?" Loki asked you as he helped you sit on your couch.

You shook your head. /This was damage done through my shields/ you replied.

"Damn, he was strong," he commented as he looked over your wounds. He hesitated. "I need to see your arm to heal it," he finally said. You nodded and vanished the top of your armor, leaving you in just your bra. He had seen you in less yesterday, plus this was for healing. Tony rushed into the room while Loki was looking over your side and arm, seeing how bad the damage was.

"Kat? Fury said you were back from patrol. I didn't see you come in. Is everything ok? What the hell?" Tony demanded. "Why aren't you in the infirmary and where the hell is your shirt?" he added more loudly when he saw that you were injured. You gestured to Loki with your good arm. You rolled your eyes and sat quietly while Loki got to work healing your injuries.

"We found a couple of villains with powers. One of them hurt Kat through her shielding. I can heal her just as easily, if not more so, than the healers downstairs, and she does not have to step foot in the infirmary. I needed to see her injury, and had you knocked, you would not have to see your niece in nothing but her bra," Loki answered calmly, but grumpily while he worked. It didn't take him long to fix the damage. You gave him a kiss when he was done. He pulled the throw blanket off of the couch and wrapped it around your shoulders to cover you.

[I'm fine, Tony] you signed at him tiredly. [We caught some robbers and some supervillains. It's late and I just went through a healing. Yell at us tomorrow if you insist on yelling]

"Sorry, Kat. I just worry about you. I hate when you get attacked on patrol. You know that," Tony said, coming over to give you a hug. "I'm glad you're ok. Go get some rest before your eyes do that creepy black thing again." You rolled your eyes at him, but got up from the couch and shoved him from your sittingroom, closing and locking the door firmly behind him. You looked Loki over to make sure he wasn't injured. He only had a couple scrapes and bruises, which only took a pinch of power to fix. You summoned some pajamas and smirked when you realized in your exhaustion that you had summoned one of his Asgardian tunics to wear to bed. It had apparently become a habit. He grinned at you too when he realized what you had done.

"You are adorable, darling," he told you, when he realized what you wereYwearing. you blushed at the unexpected compliment, but kissed him again before you both fell into bed. You was tired of the long days already and you hadn’t been home very long at all.


	39. Chapter 39

The next thing you knew, you were being dragged out of bed. You opened your mouth to scream, your eyes snapping open as you automatically reached for a dagger. A hand clapped over your mouth while the person dragging you out of bed grabbed your wrist to stop you from drawing a dagger on them. "Kat, it's me," Claire hissed in a whisper. She dragged you from your bed and through a portal, her hand still firmly over your mouth. She didn't trust you when you was mostly asleep. You didn't blame her. "Balder claimed another victim," she explained once you were on the other side of the portal. "You're the only one strong enough to save his victims," she added as she finally removed her hand from your mouth. You stumbled behind her, still not awake as she dragged you to the emergency bay where one of the younger teen supers was lying in the bed.

You saw instantly why Balder had chosen her. She had dyed her hair magenta-red. It wasn't the right shade, but it was as close as dye could get to your color of red hair. She was one of the newest recruits. You hadn't even gotten a chance yet to learn her name or her powers. Balder had gutted her, just like he had done to Tony, Pepper, Loki, and Veronica. You fought back your anger at him. That wouldn't help right now.

In your haze of exhaustion, you didn't even think of calling for Loki's help. You weren't sure how much sleep you had gotten in the last three days, but it wasn't nearly enough. Too much had been going on. You were in an exhausted autopilot, bordering on a healing trance, which was dangerous for you, so you did exactly what a healer on autopilot did when faced with a victim as injured as this little girl was. You threw yourself straight into the healing without thinking of anything more than fixing this girl.

You didn't notice or think about anything else until cold hands pulled you gently away from the girls' bed what felt like a long while later. You had been so lost to the healing trance and the pull of the healing magic that you hadn't noticed anything around you. "She is healed, darling. Time to let go," Loki told you softly as he took a couple of steps back, pulling you with him so your glowing blue hands lost contact with the girl and broke the last of the healing trance. You looked the girl over automatically and saw that the wound was healed. It would still be sore and fragile, but it would heal completely with time. Once that was confirmed, you could finally turn from her bed and look at Loki, finally noticing the exhaustion haze in your eyes and that your vision was starting to go black around the edges. Damn. "One of these days you will have to enlighten me as to how you manage to push yourself beyond your body's limits without losing consciousness until after the healing is complete. It should be quite impossible." You reached out to hold on to him to steady yourself. He swept you up into his arms before your legs gave out. You opened your mouth to answer his question. "Right this moment is not the proper time to tell you that story. Rest now," he interrupted you before you could speak and knock out the entire room. That sounded like a good idea, so you laid your head more comfortably on his shoulder. He smiled at you, glad you were being reasonable for once. You vaguely felt, or was it saw, your brain was too foggy to even notice the difference, when Tony arrived. He paused at the doorway, taking in the scene.

Loki turned to glare at Claire and Healer Julia. "You lot are supposed to be making sure she does not get in this state from overwork. I know for a fact that you have been warned by Fury after the last time, which was just a few weeks ago. Surely your memories cannot be that poor," he snarled at them. "You two both know that healers will not stop until they collapse from exhaustion or the healing is complete, and you know that Lady Y/N is especially bad about that, most especially when you catch her when she is half asleep." They at least had the grace to look ashamed.Loki slipped into formality when he was fighting to rein in his temper.

"We had no choice. Grace would have died without Kat's help!" Claire protested, nearly whining.

"So, this child's life is worth more than the life of your strongest healer, the life of my beloved? Is that why you kidnapped her from our chambers? Is that why you feared to wake me when I could have helped with the healing, which you both very well know?" Loki was downright terrifying when he was angry. His cold rage spiraled throughout the room and ice formed along the walls.You weren’t sure you had ever seen him this angry before. In that moment, all you could do was be glad that his anger wasn't directed at you. "Neither of you will like the consequences if you ever try to pull this stunt again." Loki snarled, holding you protectively to his cool chest.

Tony took a step forward in the silence, drawing attention to him. "What'd you wake me for, Loki? What's the emergency?" he demanded, as if he hadn't just overheard all of Loki's threats.

"The healers kidnapped Kat from her bed down here to heal someone without bothering to wake me, or have anyone here to monitor her power levels. You know how healers are..." Loki explained to Tony. His voice was calm, but you could still feel his anger at the situation.

"It was one of Balder's victims!" Claire protested. "She's the only one strong enough to heal them!" Tony, Loki, and Julia all glared at her. She wasn't helping anything.

"Why do you need my help?" Tony asked, almost pleasantly. He was up to something if he was being that pleasant in this situation. "It looks like you have the situation under control,"

"You are much better at yelling at the mortals than I am. I thought it best to ask for your assistance in the matter of scolding them, and of course the subsequent report to Fury," Loki replied pleasantly. Tony gave him a real smile. Those two getting along wasn't a good thing.

"You're right on that one, though you were doing a good job on your own. She gonna be ok?" Tony asked, concerned when you hadn't moved an inch even though your eyes were still open. You started to answer with a smart-ass remark about how you was perfectly fine.

"Love, I realize that you are exhausted and rather drained of power, which generally makes you adorably brain dead, but kindly try to remember not to speak. I would hate to drop you because I have passed out," Loki interrupted you before you could answer, his voice kind and gentle with you.He looked over at Tony. "She will be alright once I can get her back to bed,” he reassured your uncle.

"Go. I'll take care of things here. Get her to bed before she hurts someone," Tony ordered with a glint of a smile at you.You managed to lift your arm enough to flip him off. "Love you too, imp. Get some sleep,"

"Alright, my darling little witch, off to bed with you," Loki said softly, his voice filled with love as he carried you from the room. You heard Tony begin roaring at the healers while you left. They were doomed to a long lecture and another scolding tomorrow when Fury got ahold of them.

/You're not mad?/ you asked, fully expecting, now that you were thinking more clearly, for him to be upset with you for draining yourself this much.

"Not at you, darling," he told you gently as he climbed the stairs, holding you as if you weighed nothing. "I am upset with them for dragging you out of bed and not bothering to bring me along. I know how healers are. Were it my main gift, I would probably be the same way. I am just glad I woke enough to realize you were gone," he explained gently and kissed your forehead.

/I'm ok/ you tried to reassure him.

"Try that again in the morning when you can think coherently," he chuckled. "You sound drunk."

You was asleep in his arms before you had even gotten back to your floor.


	40. Chapter 40

"I knew you would come back to my domain, little pet," Balder's voice greeted you with a seductive purr that made you want to vomit. You knew in that moment that you were asleep. This was a nightmare. Shit. Loki must've thought you were safe from Balder when you had passed out from exhaustion in his arms. "You cannot fight me here. Just do what I say and I will not hurt you," he promised. 

His voice was full of lies.

You would know.

The scene around you focused. You were in a throne room. Balder was standing before the throne, as if he had just stepped down. You were in the middle of the room. In your pajamas. Why did you always have to face him in your pajamas? He took a couple steps toward you. You stepped back automatically. You did _not_ want him touching you.

"Don't bother trying to run, pet. It is quite useless while you are asleep," Balder told you with a smirk, stepping even closer, closing the distance between you impossibly fast.Stupid dream physics.

"What do you want from me?" you asked. There had to be a reason he kept attacking your dreams.

"Simple, pet," he said. "You are going to take out all of your superhero friends for me. They are so very in my way.” You wanted to kill him for that stupid superior tone.

"No," you told him, taking another step back. You had to get out of there, had to wake up. Now.You tried to feel for your body, your powers, your daggers, Loki, anything, but you were cut off, trapped in this dreamscape with nothing but your wits.

You were doomed.

You had to calm down. Your wits had gotten you out of trouble before. You could find a way out of this too. You just had to wake up.

This was a dream. It was just a dream.

"Whatever you are planning, pet, it will not work. Just do what I say. You will be safe and well taken care of in my kingdom. Look how those awful humans treat you. They use and use you with no regard to your well being. They take and take, and what do they give you in return? Guilt for not helping them more, for not giving more of yourself to them. I know, pet, you feel like you cannot say no to them. Healers are always the same. Let ,e say no for you. Join me, pet," he purred, his tone seductive and persuasive.

"Never," you snarled at him. You turned to flee again. This was a dream and you imagined a wall of flames between you and Balder as you ran. He appeared in front of you and shoved you backwards, hard. You fell on your ass just as hard.

"You will not win, pet. I have far more practice in the dreamscape than you do," he purred. "And I will hold you here until you do as I wish. See?" he asked with a flourish of his hands as you scrambled back to your feet. Your skirt threatened to tangle around your legs as you did. Skirt? You had been wearing one of Loki's tunics. You looked down and growled.

"When did you watch Star Wars?" you demanded as you recognized the certain gold bikini that he was making you wear. "And you do remember to the last asshole who forced someone into this outfit, right? Huttslayer Leia killed his ass." You snarled at him, remembering Space Mom. Space Mom would not give up. You weren't going to either. You focused your imagination. Imagination was the power in the dreamscape. You were in your jeans, your favorite old t-shirt, and your ever-present converse a moment later. Old things, familiar things, were easier to imagine, easier to control in this world.

Familiar things.

Balder picked you up by the throat before you could think, before you could plan. Your wits were being so useless here. You reached automatically for the dagger sheath at your back. Familiar things. You pulled a dagger and slashed it viciously across Balder's face.

He howled in pain and dropped you. You drew another dagger, thanking Loki for the hours and hours and hours you spent practicing with them. Pulling one was such second nature that you could do it even in the dreamscape.

"Enough!" Balder roared. He rushed you. You ducked and dodged. You were small and light, your fighting style was to be out of the way and not get hit. You relaxed into the feeling of zen that came with a sparring match. This, you could handle. You had been practicing with the daggers since before you got your powers. You ducked and spun and sliced at Balder while he roared and clambered after you.

You were doing well until Balder cloned himself. You were outmatched in seconds when there were five of him and only one of you. You couldn't match that power here. Two of them held you while the original one came over, leering at you as he towered over you. "That was a valiant effort, pet, but the game is over. You will scream for me. You will scream, and you will take out all of your super friends while you do. Just give in. Scream now before I make you," he purred, running a hand over your cheek, tucking your hair back away from your face.

You spat in his face with all the viciousness you could muster.

"How many times do I have to tell you never?" you demanded with a snarl, as you struggled against the too-tight grip of the clones holding you.It was no use of course, but you weren't giving up without a fight.

"Very well. Let us see what horrors you have in your past to scream at," he said and placed a hand on your forehead as he drew his magic.

_You woke to heat, to an orange light, to the smell of smoke in the air. The house was too warm, even for a summer night. You heard laughter outside and a crackling in the house. Your eyes snapped open and you sat up in bed, panting, though you could barely breathe. Some part of your brain realized that the house was on fire. You had to get out of there, now! You panicked, a terrified child surrounded by flames. You managed to get out from your tangle of covers, then fell to the floor of your bedroom, coughing from the smoke. You half-stumbled, half-crawled from your room. You had to get downstairs, had to get out of the house._

_The hallway was a wall of flames. You stumbled through them as fast as you could, trying to make it to the stairs. You crashed down the stairs, coughing from the smoke. You could barely see anything, but this was your home. You knew where every footfall went, each creaky step, and the exact fasted path out of the house. You just had to get there._

_You were so scared that you could barely move._

_You collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, coughing your lungs out. You had to get out of there. You were going to die. You were just thirteen. You couldn't die._

_You somehow got back to your feet and made your way to the foyer. You were almost out of there. You were going to make it._

_You stopped dead when you saw your parents, tied to your dining room chairs. Your dining room chairs didn't belong in the foyer. Your brain refused to comprehend what you saw, though you should’ve understood. You ran to them, tears streaming down your cheeks. "Mom! You have to get up, Mom! We have to get out of here!" you told her, trying to pull her from the chair. It was useless. They were both dead already, shot in the head before the fire even started._

"No!" you snarled, fighting through Balder's dream control. You weren't that scared little thirteen year old girl anymore. You had magic and super powers and fighting skills. You spat blood onto the ground between you and Balder.You had bitten your tongue to keep from screaming. You couldn't scream. You couldn't hurt your friends.

"Hmm. That one is not strong enough anymore? Mother really has helped you heal. Maybe a different memory." Balder mused. You were prepared this time, prepared to fight with everything you had. He couldn't be allowed to win.

_Your body froze around your while your mind was trapped inside. Your limbs weren't responding and it was getting worse and worse as the seconds passed. You didn't have time. You managed to reach into your pocket. Fumbled and fumbled to get your phone out. You fought with everything you could to force your numb fingers to type four little letters to Loki 'help'. One more button push and the phone was locked. Arms grabbed you, steering your useless body upstairs._

It was a memory. Just a memory.

"Get out of my head!" you snarled at Balder.

"Just scream for me, pet. One scream and this all stops," he told you. His eyes lit up with an idea. "Of course, you will not scream for yourself,"

No

With a flick of his hands, a bound Loki appeared in front of you. "Scream for his life,"

"You won't kill him," you protested. "If you kill him, I die," you reminded him. Loki looked so scared and confused. You struggled against the clones holding you. They didn't budge. Balder produced a dagger.

"True, but there is a lot of damage I can do before he will die,"

"No, don't!" He ignored you and drove the dagger into Loki's chest. You heard Loki’s howl of pain and echoed it with a howl of your own. "NO!" you shrieked, throwing power at the clones holding you.

They flew away with the force of your powers

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Balder backhanded you, throwing you across the room before you could reach Loki.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

What was that annoying noise? It sounded so familiar.

You hands were already glowing blue to heal Loki.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Balder plunged the dagger into Loki again.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"NO!" you shrieked, loudly enough that the windows in the throne room all shattered

_“A fire has been reported. Please exit the compound in an orderly manner”_

You ran for Loki.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Balder held the dagger to Loki's throat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Water? Where was that water coming from? Hands? Hands on you? Lifting you?

FALLING! You were falling falling! Wake! UP!


	41. Chapter 41

"If you so much as open your mouth, I am slapping you into next Tuesday," Tony's voice was harsh when he caught you as you jerked awake.You were dripping wet, completely soaked, somehow, and had fallen from...the top of your dresser? Also the fire alarm was going off. What the hell was going on?

Loki!

Loki was in danger, Balder was killing him. You shoved your way out of Tony's arms, vaguely noticing the noise cancelling headphones on his head. Tony grabbed you before you ran to Loki, shoving you against the wall and holding you there. "Sorry, Kat. Fury's orders for whoever managed to get to you first," Tony said with true sorrow in his eyes. You raised your brows, starting to question him. What on earth did he have to be sorry for? Besides delaying you getting to Loki. You kept your mouth shut, though, you really didn't want to get slapped into next Tuesday.

Instead, Tony slapped a piece of tape over your mouth. You assumed it was duct tape. You rolled your eyes. Whatever made Fury happy. You’d take it off when this mess was cleaned up. You shoved Tony out of the way and ran over to Loki.

Veronica was next to the bed. Of course, she'd been immune to your screams.

Loki was unconscious, blood pouring from his ears. He'd taken the full blast of the stupid power. You held his left hand with your glowing blue left hand, the soulbond flaring as you searched for healing power to use on him. You hadn't been asleep long enough to recharge. Thankfully, it didn't take much. He wasn't really that hurt.

Balder had tricked you. It had been an illusion of Loki in the dream. Your Loki was perfectly fine after a little healing.

Asshole.

You should’ve known better than to let him trick you.

"Kat, we need to get out of here," Tony told you the second your hands stopped glowing. Loki was still unconscious. You gestured to him helplessly. You weren't leaving him behind. "I'll get him, come on." You didn't move until Tony had thrown Loki over his shoulder and grabbed your wrist to drag you with him. "Outside," he ordered firmly. "The fire department will be here any minute, and we need to all be outside before they get here." He finally took his headphones off as he dragged you from the tower to the front lawn where all of the supers who lived in the tower were gathered. He dragged you further from the main entrance than almost everyone else, where you wouldn't be seen by the fire department when they got there. He dumped Loki on the ground next to you. "Stay here, quietly, and don't interact with the fire department or the police when they inevitably show up." Tony ordered firmly, sounding like you had done something wrong.

You hadn't.

You sat on the grass next to Loki and pulled his head onto your lap, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. There were only a couple other people who were still unconscious. You recognized them as the people who lived on the floor below yours. You and Loki were the only two who lived on your floor. Now that things were a little calmer, you reached up to take the tape off of your mouth.

You reached up to take the tape off your mouth.

You took the tape off of your mouth.

You.Took. The. Tape. Off. Of. Your. Mouth.

It wouldn't budge.

Veronica snapped to get your attention. You looked up at her, glaring. [Tony made that. It's not coming off]

[He has got to stop making things that interfere with my life] you signed back at her. She laughed. [What happened? Why isn't everyone...more hurt?]

[I had a vision] Veronica explained. She was deaf, but she had the strongest most accurate premonitions of anyone you knew. [I just didn't know when the premonition would take place, or I would have warned you when you were in the infirmary tonight. I thought there was more time. I had given Fury a warning that if I were to pull the fire alarm everyone should put on headphones or earplugs and get the hell out of the compound. Thank god he took me seriously. I saw Tony, Fury, Julia and Claire all yelling in the infirmary in the same outfits from the premonition and knew it was time. So I hit the fire alarm]

[You saved everyone] you replied. The fire alarm would have saved those on the lower levels from hearing you. Fury's memo to all of the supers to put on headphones when the fire alarm went off probably saved the rest.

[It was a close thing. About thirty seconds after you did, people started running downstairs, their ears bleeding beneath their headphones. The fire alarm broke the spell once they couldn't hear you anymore. So what made you scream like that? Fury said you were screaming.]

[Nightmare. Balder has the power to affect dreams] you explained quickly while you scanned Loki with your powers again, concerned when he wasn't waking. He wasn't trapped in a nightmare, though. He was just unconscious. [How did I get soaked? And falling from my dresser?] you were shivering in the cool night's air. Spring was just beginning and it was still cold outside. All of the kids were huddled together. Everyone was wearing their pajamas, huddling around fires that the firestarters created. You didn't dare try to create one right now, even though your pajamas were drenched.

[Sorry. I couldn't wake you. I thought water might snap you out of it... You wouldn't stop screaming.] She was the safest person to have tried to come wake you. [Tony came in next and tried that thing from that Inception movie, where if you fall it will kick your brain into waking you up. He slapped you first, but that didn't work either.] You didn't even notice that your face hurt until she said something. Luckily, Tony hadn't slapped you with any force.

Pepper came over to your little group and sat down next to me, laying her head on your shoulder. She had finished talking with the police and wanted to rest away from the press. 

Wanda came over next and looked expectantly at your group.“What happened?” She asked.You and Veronica just gave the other a look and then looked at Wanda like she wasn’t thinking. "I just asked the two people in the compound who can't talk to me for answers didn't I?" She asked at her own folly.

You both nodded.

/Don't be scared/ you told her telepathically. It took too much focus for this, so you’d have to be brief. /Balder attacked us through that awful curse he put in me/

"And that's why you have Tony-tape on your mouth?" she asked. You nodded, but gave her a look. "Tony and Bruce made that stuff. I don't know what their actual purpose was for it, but Fury is thinking of using it instead of handcuffs in the field. It dissolves in 24 hours. Unfortunately nothing in the 'verse can dissolve it before then," she added. You huffed and pulled a dagger from the sheath which had materialized at your back. Wanda grabbed your arm before you could go kill someone. "You can't kill Tony,” she reminded you. You glared at her then pointed your dagger toward Fury. "You definitely can't kill him. He'd kick your ass." you frowned, but put the dagger away. You’d kill them both later.

You sat silently for a few more minutes though you had to hide your face when the fire department and police wandered around to question people. You didn't want them seeing you or trying to question you.

Loki finally began to stir. You ran your fingers through his hair, hoping to comfort him some before he woke in a panic. It failed. He shot up looking around frantically. /Lo, I'm here. We're fine/ you told him, reaching out to touch his arm. He whirled and pulled you to him hard enough to crush the wind from your lungs. /Ease up, love. I would like to continue breathing/ He loosened his grip some, but still held onto you tightly.

"You're freezing," he grumbled at you. He actually felt warm to you. That wasn't a good thing.

[Veronica decided that throwing a bucket of water on me to wake me was a good idea. Then we had to come out here because of the fire alarm] you signed that for Veronica's benefit.

[It seemed like a good plan] she replied indignantly. [Water usually wakes people up]. Loki used magic to summon dry clothes for you. They happened to be one of his t-shirts, his pajama pants, his robe, and a blanket over top of it all. Of course he was feeling uneasy tonight. He touched the tape over your mouth, concerned.

/That is courtesy of Fury and Tony. I will be killing them once there are fewer witnesses/ you grumbled at him. /Apparently it cannot be removed for 24 hours/

"I will help you murder them later,” he replied with the smallest of smiles. "What happened?" he asked you gently. Instead of answering, you gave him permission to view your memories. It was faster, easier, and you trusted him not to pry. You felt him enter your mind and focused on your 'dream' with Balder to make it easier for him to find and see. You had gotten good at that sort of fake telepathy before you had powers, and it was easier now that you _did_ have powers. He slipped back out of your mind a moment later. He pulled you onto his lap and leaned down to whisper in your ear. "That should have been very impossible. I spelled you. He should not have been able to break through my magic to attack you."


	42. Chapter 42

You were stuck out in the cold for far too long. It took forever for the fire department to clear the tower after the 'fire'. Fury didn't want to tell the cops, or the press who had arrived about Balder attacking you. 

When they finally let you back inside, you and Loki tried to sneak in among the crowd. You didn't want to talk to Fury, Tony, or Bruce. You had a feeling there would be daggers drawn the moment any of them tried to talk to you right now. You weren’t particularly pleased with any of them.Unfortunately, Fury caught you trying to sneak in. Tony caught Pepper and flung her over his shoulder while Pepper yelped indignantly. Tony was glad that she was ok and wanted to make sure she stayed that way.“Stop that. You're not hurt," Tony scolded her, worry in his voice. "And if you try to guilt me over your poor cat ears from the fire alarm, and my niece…” Pepper had cat ears, quite a lot of the time as she was learning to control her powers.

"Geez, Tony. Like I'd do that," Pepper grumbled. "Now put me down," she whined.

"Nope. You're safe where you are," Tony replied. She stood no chance overpowering Tony, though she could usually keep him in line, except when he was that worried.Tony was worried now. 

"All of you, Veronica, you too," Fury signed his words as he spoke. "My office. Now." He pointed a finger at you. You hadn’t even done anything this time.“Don't you even think about disappearing. My office." you glared at him and pointed to the tape on your mouth. "We will discuss it in my office. Move your asses," Fury ordered. You clutched your blanket more firmly around yourself and Loki wrapped a protective arm around your shoulders. Tony led the way to Fury's office with Pepper still draped over his shoulder.

"Your uncle picked up bad habits from Thor," Pepper complained. You shrugged miserably. You knew what happened wasn't your fault, but you still felt bad about it.

"Darling, it is not your fault," Loki reminded you, sensing your emotions. Fury growled. Loki turned and glared at him. "It is not," he told Fury firmly. "You cannot blame a victim for being attacked,"

"It's still her power that caused all of this," Fury insisted. You heard the hesitation in his voice, though. He just wanted something to be angry with. You filed in to Fury's office. There were only two chairs besides Fury's in the room. Veronica got one of them without question. The rest of you had an extremely polite argument of 'no you take the other chair'. "Kat, just take the damn chair," Fury growled at you when he got tired of the argument. You sank into it, but shrank back from his anger. Fury was about the only one here you wouldn't and couldn't stand up to. He had basically been your dad for the last five years you’d lived in the tower. He was also always so loud and drill-sargenty. Loki stood behind your chair, his hands on your shoulders, a reassuring presence. 

“Tony! Put me down!" Pepper whined. Tony shifted Pepper so she was cradled in Tony's arms instead of thrown over his shoulder. "This isn't better," Pepper grumbled, but hse was purring, so her argument was invalid. You tried really hard not to laugh. You couldn't laugh properly right now anyway, so it really was best not to try.

"Soldiers," Fury snapped. You all looked at him again with equal looks of embarrassment and shame. "Report," he ordered, staring straight at you. You huffed, grabbed his keyboard off his desk, and turned his computer monitor. You typed a lot faster than you signed. So you typed up your report while Fury and the others watched the screen. Loki occasionally added a detail or two. Veronica signed her part of the evening's events. Fury took in everything that was said. "Kat, I know this isn't your fault, but this curse is a danger to all of us, especially if Balder can attack you even with Loki's magic. There's a solution. No one in this room is going to like it, but I don't care. You're all going to agree to it anyway, or Kat will have to spend her time in a detainment room downstairs until R&D or Loki's people come up with a permanent solution," Tony, Loki, and Pepper all growled at that suggestion. The detainment cells were awful. You were _not _getting locked up for something you couldn't control.

"What is your solution?" Tony asked, trying to keep his voice calm. You knew it was only intense training that kept his temper in check. 

"There is a safehouse outside of the city. It's miles from anyone…” Fury started.

"No!" Tony yelled. "You can't send her out to the middle of the nowhere alone,"

"You will not send her anywhere alone," Loki added, though his voice was calm.It was the dangerous sort of calm that only he could pull off. 

"It's a precaution. I'm not going to stop you from going to class, or even from coming here to work in the infirmary, as long as Loki's with you, but you cannot sleep where you'll be a danger to others. It's too dangerous. That rules out both here, and your apartment. So here are the options. Either you agree to stay in the safehouse, or I'm locking you in detainment right now until R&D comes up with a solution,"

[Safehouse it is] you signed.

"Then I am going too. I am not leaving you alone, especially while Balder is after you," Loki insisted.

"That is a stupid-ass decision," Fury replied. “Balder has already proven he can get through your magic," he reminded Loki in a growl.

"I can protect myself," Loki grumbled.

"Fine, but I take no responsibility for your decision," Fury grumbled. He gave you more stupid rules that you only half paid attention to. Something about only leaving the safehouse for class and healing people in the infirmary. The adrenaline of tonight's adventures was wearing off. "Go pack a bag, both of you. I want you at that safehouse before she crashes again." You glared at him, but he was right. He was also unaffected by glares.

[Take this stupid tape off] you signed at him angrily. He shook his head.

"Can't. It dissolves in 24 hours. Bruce hasn't figured out how to make it dissolve any faster. That is why it is a last resort." You glared at him and somehow managed to summon a fireball and sign angrily at him.

[This was put on your face after I woke up]

"You knocked out half of the compound before Veronica hit the alarm and no one knew why or how, especially since Loki was one of the ones you incapacitated. Of course I'm sorry now that I know the whole story, but I had to act in the entire tower’s best interest. Now both of you get out of here. All of you are dismissed." You all rushed out of Fury's office. No one liked being there and you were pissed.

"Kat, are you going to be ok?" Tony asked.

You nodded. [I'm fine, Uncle Tony. Stop being overprotective. I'm not even going to be alone] you signed at him quickly, grumpy with lack of sleep and this stupid punishment. You still gave him a grudging hug. And would have kissed his cheek, but circumstances...

"Do you need you to kiss his cheek since you cannot?" Loki asked with a glint of mischief in his eyes. You tried to laugh, it wasn't a great laugh, but they got the point.

"That would be a firm no," Tony grumbled with sarcasm in his voice.

"I'll do it for you," Pepper volunteered, and proceeded to kiss Tony's cheek.

"An elegant solution. Come, darling, we need to pack so we can get going. Fury wants us to drive there," Loki reminded you of part of the conversation you had zoned out on. You nodded and headed upstairs. You didn't care much about packing clothes. You and Loki could both summon new clothes whenever you felt like it. You were more interested in making sure you had your laptop, phone, a few books, and various chargers. You also packed a few clothes, just in case. Loki's bag looked pretty similar, but also included the handheld game system you had bought him a couple years ago. You handed him your car keys. You didn't feel confident driving right now and he didn't argue.

Tony and Pepper were waiting for you at the front door. You said your goodbyes to them and Loki summoned some real clothes for himself, just in case you were pulled over. You highly doubted that would happen, and the cops would probably be more concerned as to why you had unremoveable tape over your mouth than what Loki was wearing. You still kept your head down, hiding behind your hair as you walked out to your car. Luckily, all of the cops and firefighters had left.

You zoned out for the drive to the safehouse, but managed to stay awake. You also didn't get pulled over. The safehouse was a little two bedroom house in the middle of nowhere. You trudged into the house and looked over both bedrooms and picked the one with the larger bed.

"Darling, before you even try the self-sacrificing, not sleeping thing, remember that we are safe for the night because of that tape, which I will be killing Doctor Banner for," Loki told you as you set your bags down. You nodded. He was right. You couldn't hurt him and you could handle nightmares. "Are you sure you're ok?" Loki asked before you could crash in the bed.

/I'm fine/ you replied simply. /Just tired, and still pissed at Fury, Tony, and Bruce. It's been a long night and I need some real sleep. Balder gutting my friends constantly and then harassing me in my dreams is really draining/ you whined.

He chuckled. "Very well"

The next day was awful for both of you.You still had classes, and had to keep an illusion up all day so no one would see the stupid tape. At least they were all expecting you to sign everything all day anyway. You and Loki both didn't eat all day. He refused as it would be rude. You told him repeatedly that he was being stupid, but he wouldn't listen. The end result was you both being hangry on your individual ends of the couch until about 4am when the tape finally dissolved and you gorged yourselves on pancakes. Somehow the little hole in the wall pancake place was open at 4am and they fed you as many pancakes as you wanted. Neither of you questioned why they were open at 4am, or why a bunch of supers in costume were eating there at 4am, looking like they just got off patrol.

The next two weeks were also hell. You tried to sleep as little as possible. You didn't want Loki in danger. After a week of your refusing, and his having to soothe you through more than one depressive episode over the whole situation, the isolation and helplessness of the whole situation was getting to you, he promised to leave the house for the night as long as you promised to get some sleep and let him shield the house. You agreed out of desperation and passed out the second he was gone.

You were both grateful a week later when Frigga called you to return to Asgard. She had found the cure at last.


	43. Chapter 43

The second you got word from Frigga, you both summoned the spellbook at the same time. It appeared open to the right page in your hands. You were both desperate to get this power out of you as fast as possible. The last couple weeks had been rough on both of you. The isolation and lack of sleep was turning you into a depressed exhausted mess. Loki wouldn't say anything, but you knew he hated seeing you like that. So you threw magic into getting the portal open as quickly as possible and rushed through the second it was.

Frigga was waiting for you on the other side with Thor. Apparently she’d known when and where the portal was going to open.“You two look like hell," Thor greeted you jovially when the portal snapped shut behind you. 

/Nice to see you too, Thor/ you replied grumpily, but you let him hug you anyway. He was family, so he got hugs, even if you were grumpy and exhausted./If you try to pick me up, I will stab you/ you added grumpily.You felt helpless enough without him treating you like a child. It was usually cute, but not today.Today you just wanted to be healed and sleep.For a week.

"Brother, your lovely soulbond is beginning to speak like you," Thor laughed, teasing you both and clearly trying to lighten the mood.

"We have had a rough couple of weeks," Loki answered, his voice betraying his exhaustion.That was strange for Loki, he usually hid his emotions better, especially from his brother. 

"Come along, children. You will both feel better once we get that power out of my daughter," Frigga ordered gently, getting you all back on track.Thor kept his arm around your shoulders and Loki came up on your other side, mirroring him.

"It will be over soon, darling," Loki told you softly. You nodded exhausted, and let them steer you to one of the private rooms in the healing wing. Loki was explaining to Frigga as you walked about how Balder had broken through Loki's magic to attack you, which is why you’d slept for one night and a couple hour naps in the past two weeks.Not nearly enough sleep.Which made you extra grumpy.

You ended up in the same room in the healing wing where Frigga had healed your mind and your powers. She had you sit on the bed. "Loki, leave us," Frigga ordered.

"Mother-" he started to protest.He could be around anything in the healing wing and was _the_ Master Magician of Asgard.Whatever Frigga was going to do shouldn’t be a secret.

"Now. This is not for you to see,” Frigga said with a firmness that her son rarely saw from her.

"Mother, you do not have to protect me anymore. I am not a child," Loki protested, not removing his hand from your shoulder, the other hand running through your hair. You had the feeling that was for his comfort more than your. Frigga looked him over, assessing his words and body language.

"Very well, but I do not want to ever hear of you practicing blood magic," she told him firmly.

"Of course, Mother," he replied formally, bowing his head in acknowledgement of the words.She would never hear of him doing it, even if he did. 

"Thor, make sure no one disturbs us," Frigga ordered. Thor nodded and stepped out of the room, guarding the door. "This will hurt, dear. There is no getting around that," you nodded. "Where did he insert the power?" she asked. You pointed to the spot on your chest. She gave you a look. You knew that look; you were a healer after all. You stripped off your shirt obediently. Loki made a displeased noise, but one glare from Frigga quieted him. You were still wearing a bra, and this was for healing, not for anything remotely sexual. Silly overprotective boyfriend. You laid back on the bed when Frigga gave the word to. "Are you sure you are strong enough for this, Loki? You will have to hold her. This is one of the worst kinds of blood magic, and it will hurt," Frigga questioned him again.

Loki lifted your left hand and kissed your soulbond marks. "Mother, Lady Y/N is my soulbond. I love her with every ounce of my being and I will do anything for her."

Frigga evaluated his words, then nodded. "Very well. You will have to keep her from screaming, as that would interrupt process, and hold her still. This will hurt," she reminded you both. "Are you ready?" You both nodded; you wanted this over, now.

Loki moved to sit next to you on the bed. "I'm sorry, darling," he whispered as he placed an ice cold hand over your mouth.

/It will be over soon/ you replied.

You both watched in horror as Frigga drew her dagger from the sheath at her side and sliced her palm open deeply. She paused for one heartbeat, two, as golden light started to glow around her. You saw her steel herself, then place her bleeding hand against your chest, in the exact spot where Balder had placed the power in your chest in the first place.

You howled in pain as her magic reached through you, pulling the power from every fiber of your being. It had wound itself through every inch of you, like some awful parasite. It didn't want to give up its hold on you, and gripped its claws into you deeper as Frigga tried to remove it.You don't know how long she worked, how long you wept and screamed from pain, though silenced by Loki, how long Loki had to keep you from bucking and writhing in pain.

Finally, she pulled a glowing orb of power from your chest. With a flick of her wrist, it was safely ensconced in glass. "It is done," she announced. Promptly, her eyes rolled back in her head. Loki moved faster than you’d ever seen him and he caught her before she fell.

"Thor! Get in here!" Loki yelled as you struggled to sit up. "Love, just lie back," he told you gently. You wisely did as you were told for once. Thor burst into the room. He took in the scene and rushed to take Frigga from Loki.

"What happened? I thought this was just a spell," Thor asked as he swept Frigga up into his arms, holding his mother gently and carefully.

"It was blood magic, Thor. Dark, forbidden, painful, magic," Loki looked like he was going to be sick. "Be glad you were not here for it. It is done, now, though. Mother will be fine. She just needs to rest," he added as he came back to your side. "Darling, are you alright?" he asked, pushing your hair back away from your face.

"I love you," you told him softly, your voice hoarse from an ungodly mix of disuse and howling in pain.

He smiled and chuckled at you. "I love you too, but that was not what I asked," Loki replied gently with loving exasperation.

"Is it bed yet?" you managed.

He laughed again. “Yes, we can all go get some rest. Are you going to stab my if I carry you?" he asked with a smile.

"Not you, only Thor," you murmured sleepily.

"Thor is too busy with Mother to try to carry you. You are safe from him," Loki told you with a chuckle.

"She does not need to be saved from me," Thor complained in a whine.

"I didn't get to thank Frigga," you told Loki, more concerned about that than your own well-being, as per usual.

"You can thank her at dinner tonight," Loki told you. He used magic to summon you a new shirt so Thor would stop staring at the wall. He stood and leaned down to pick you up off of the bed. You wrapped your arms around his neck. "Come, my love, you need rest. You have not slept in a week and you have been through more pain and trauma today than anyone should have to go through. Mother will be fine, Thor will make sure she is well pampered. There is nothing else for you to worry about right now." You laid your head on his shoulder, too exhausted to argue with him.

"Brother, will you give me a lift back to Mother's suite so the people do not see her like this?" Thor asked.He didn’t like asking Loki to use magic on his behalf, but asking on Frigga’s behalf was a different matter.

Loki looked to you. "I am going to set you on your feet. You can hold on to me, but I need one of my arms free," he told you gently. You nodded, trying to stay at least that much awake. He set you carefully on your feet next to him. You wrapped your arms around his slim waist and laid your head on his chest. "I've got you," he whispered and kissed the top of your head. Thor stepped over to you. Loki grabbed one of Thor's arms. In a flash of green light you were standing in the queen's suite. "You ok from here?" Loki asked Thor.

Thor nodded. "Go, take care of your lady. I will see to Mother," he replied, more formally than usual. Loki nodded curtly and swept you back up into his arms.

"I'm sorry, darling. You know safe teleporting requires physical contact with passengers," he reminded you. He felt bad for setting you down, which was ridiculous.

"I know," you replied softly. With a last look at Thor, who was taking Frigga to her bed, to make sure they were ok, Loki teleported you from the room to your own suite. You sighed in relief just to be back there. You were safe. Loki set you carefully in your bed andcurled up with you for your nap. He'd slept about as little as you had over the last two weeks. It really had been an awful couple of weeks for both of you.

So you slept most of the rest of the day until you had to get ready for dinner. "Are you up to going to dinner?" Loki asked as you struggled your way out of bed.

You nodded as you disentangled yourself from the blankets."I'm fine," you replied. "Besides, dinner is where the food is," you reminded him with a smile.

He laughed and succumbed to the fact that you had to leave the suite. "I have missed hearing your voice, my darling," he told you, wrapping his arms around you to give you a proper kiss. You kissed him back gladly, feeling so much better now that his life and consciousness weren't in constant jeopardy just by being around you.

"It's so great to be back to normal," you finally replied when the kisses had broken momentarily.

"Were you ever normal?" he asked with a laugh, which made you giggle as well.

"Not since I was 13," you replied. You sighed, much fun as you were having, you did have to go to dinner. You checked the clock; you had enough time, so you got a nice hot shower while Loki whined about not being allowed to join you. You just laughed at your poor unfortunately husband.

Boyfriend!

Boyfriend, not husband.

You come back out of the shower, with your hair dry, but unstyled and only wearing a towel, trying to shake the unbidden thought of ‘husband’ from your mind.“You are going to be the death of me," he grumbled at your teasing of him. You laughed and used magic to summon a backless blue halter dress for myself. Loki smiled. "Ravishing as ever, my dear," he told you, stepping over to give you a kiss. You stood up on your toes to kiss him back. "May I do your hair?" he asked. You nodded, surprised he had even asked. He usually just did it. You sat in the chair in front of the vanity and let him get to work, enjoying the feel of his fingers through your hair. When he finished, your hair was in an updo with elegant braids.

"Lo, this is amazing," you told him as you admired his work. He summoned the necklace Sif had given you for your birthday and clasped it around your neck.

"I am glad my lady is pleased," he replied, leaning down to kiss your neck, kissing the spots that were usually covered in hair. You melted at the feel of his cool lips against your skin and turned around to kiss him properly.

"Very pleased," you replied softly. "But we do have to finish getting ready for dinner," you reminded him.

He sighed."But this is way more enjoyable than spending time with your family," he whined with a pout.

"I know. We'll enjoy more of this after we spend the obligatory time with your family. Besides, we owe our Lady Mother a fair amount of thanks for what she did today," you reminded him.

"Fine," he relented. You stood and found the golden wrap that went with this dress. He used magic to be perfectly dressed and have his hair braided in it's usual fashion for dinner.

"You didn't want me to do your hair?" you asked him, surprised.

"We do need to hurry if we are not going to be late for dinner," he reminded you. 

You huffed, but accepted it. "I'll brush it out for you later," you offered.

He gave you a smile. "That would be appreciated." He offered you his hand and we walked to dinner hand-in-hand. You were greeted warmly by everyone in the court, most especially Thor, Sif, and Frigga. The first thing you did was ditch your escort in an unladylike fashion and go straight to Frigga. Loki followed behind, exasperated. "Darling, you are supposed to stay with your escort," he reminded you overly patiently.

You heard a couple mutters of 'Sigyn the Fetterer' from some of the members of the court. It made you smile.

You dipped into a low curtsy before Frigga. "Thank you for all you did today, Lady Mother," you told her formally. She gave you a regal nod, trying to hide her smirk at your behavior and Loki's.

"Rise, Daughter. You are most welcome. I am glad we could break the curse Balder placed upon you. Now, please, join us." You rose from your curtsy and Loki was at your side in an instant to escort you to your place at the table.

"Sister! you am glad you are well," Thor exclaimed. You grinned, glad he was back to his normal self. "Are you two staying to visit?" he asked.

"We can't this time, Thor. We only came back for the healing. And we didn't tell anyone we were coming. We have to get back to Midgard before we're missed," you explained.

He nodded. "Then we shall just have to have enough fun tonight to last you until you can come visit properly," Thor decided. You couldn't help but laugh at him.

Dinner was delicious, as usual and full of amazing foods you couldn't get back on Earth.

Afterwards, Thor dragged you to the smaller dining/dancing hall where the younger court members often gathered after dinner. Loki grumbled and dragged his feet. When you got there, Sif dragged Loki by both hands out onto the dance floor. He whined, but you shoved him in the back, propelling him onto the dance floor with Sif.

Thor offered you a hand once Loki was safely on the dance floor. "May I?" he asked. You placed your hand in his and you joined the other dancers. Loki usually liked to dance, but he liked the graceful court dances, the ballroom style dances. These dances were more like square dances on Earth, all rowdiness and fun. You danced until midnight, swinging around with all of the rowdy fun.

You caught Loki just before the last dance started and dragged him to the exact middle of the dance floor. You placed your left hand on his shoulder and and took his right hand in mine. He grinned and took his position. The musicians saw us, and as tradition, made the last dance of the night a waltz. The couples all around you took their positions as well. You saw the joy in Loki's eyes in the moment before the dance started. The music started, a few measures of the beat, and then the dance began. You and Loki were all grace, twirling in smooth, practiced movements across the dance floor. At the end of the song, Loki spun you one last time, before bowing over your hand to kiss your knuckles. There were cheers all around you from the courtiers who had enjoyed the show. You bowed and curtsied to your admirers until you could finally escape to go back to your suite.

The second you were safely inside, you summoned your pajamas. You reached up to start pulling the pins from your hair, but Loki stopped you. "Allow me," he whispered. His hands were gentle as he undid all of the work he had done earlier on your hair. It flowed down your back again in soft curls once he was done. You kept your promise from earlier and you sat in bed for a long time while you brushed out his shoulder-length raven hair.

"I love you," you told him again. You had missed being able to say that, missed being able to say anything.

"I love you too," he replied softly. He turned and hugged you to him, too tightly. "I missed you these past few weeks, darling. It just wasn't the same without your voice,"

"I know. I hated being constantly terrified that I was going to hurt everyone around me," you admitted, holding him too tightly too.

"I will kill Balder for doing that to you."

"Only if I get to help," you replied in a huff.

Laughing, you finally went to bed. You had to go home tomorrow after all


	44. Chapter 44

You made a portal back to Earth as soon as you said our goodbyes to Loki's family first thing in the morning. They all told you to come visit them again soon and demanded promises that you would. Repeatedly. From all of them.Loki looked put-upon, but you all knew it was an act. You worked together to open the portal and waved to your family as you stepped through.

You ended up back in the safehouse, which was good as that’s where you’d left your car. "We can go home now," you told Loki wistfully when the portal snapped shut behind you.You missed your home and your family.You bounced upstairs to pack your things again. You couldn't wait to get home and back to normal life. Loki chuckled as he followed you.

"You _could_ use magic," he reminded you as you shoved all of the things that had somehow spread around the entire house back into your bag. You didn't know how everything you had brought had gotten spread through the entire house in just a couple of weeks.

"Oh. Right. Magic. Still getting used to having that," you admitted.

He laughed. "Over a year, and you are still getting used to having powers?" he asked.

"I spent 17 years without them," you reminded him grumpily, which just made him laugh more. You focused and after a small bit of magic, both of your bags were repacked. You shoved them into Loki's arms. "You're the man, you get to carry the bags," you told him with a grin and bounced down the stairs.

"I dislike being the man in this circumstance," Loki grumbled, but followed with the bags anyway. “I could always be the lady,” he reminded you that he was genderfluid.It didn’t come up often, but occasionally you spent time with Lady Loki.“I also miss Asgard already. I could actually get you to dress nicely there," he whined. You looked down at your outfit, not even remembering what you had conjured. You laughed, no wonder he was whiny. Jeans and a hoodie were comfy, but not flattering. You conjured a green spring dress instead.

"Better?" you asked with a grin.

"Much." He placed your bags in the trunk and tried to take your keys to drive. You stuck your tongue out at him and got in the driver's seat. "The man is supposed to drive," he reminded you.If he was being the man, he wanted the perks as well as the downsides.

"My car. I get to drive it occasionally," you told him with a grin.

He sighed. "You are incorrigible,"

"And somehow you love me anyway." With that, you drove back to the compound, back home as fast as the speed limits would allow. You even carried your bag back inside with you, instead of making Loki carry it.

"Kat! You're home!" Tony yelled when he saw you. You dropped your bag and ran to give him a hug.

"I'm home!" you told him brightly. You watched his look of horror when you opened your mouth, but his relief was palpable when you spoke. He spun you around when he hugged you. You’d barely seen him in the two weeks I'd been at the safehouse.

"Kat's home!" Pepper called and came to join our hug.

You laughed. "Yes, I'm home, Aunt Pepper,” you told her as Tony finally let you go.

"You can talk again!" she exclaimed warmly.

"Getting her to shut up again will be the real trick," Tony teased. You drew a dagger to hold at his throat in reply.

"Don't need to talk to take you out, Uncle Tony,” you replied with a grin.

You heard the whispers and conversations around you. Word was spreading fast that you were back and cured of Balder’s curse. You sighed, you knew what this meant. You extricated yourself from Tony and Pepper and went to pick up your bag, hoping to get to the stairs before the announcement was made. You grabbed Loki's hand and dragged him towards the stairs as fast as you could. "What's wrong?" he asked while Tony and Pepper laughed.

You didn't make it to the stairs in time.

"Party tonight in Kat's honor!" Came the announcement behind you.

"Damn," you muttered.

"What is wrong with a party, darling?" Loki asked gently.

"You'll see tonight," you told him instead of actually replying. They had announced the party in your honor while you were in earshot. You were obligated to attend now. "Let's get this stuff upstairs and get out of here before the healers and Fury find out I'm back. I don't want to work today."

Loki laughed, but teleported you upstairs. "So, what would you like to do while we are hiding from Fury?" he asked you with a grin.

"I have an idea that will keep us away from him for a couple hours at least," you told him as you dropped your bag. You grabbed your phone out of your bag and checked for messages. There was one from Tom.

-I sent you a package. Let me know when you get it-

-Will do. Sorry for the delay in reply. We had to go out of town and there's no reception on Asgard-

You tucked your phone in your pocket, grabbed your purse and grabbed Loki's hand. "Mind telling me where we are going?" He asked with a loving exasperation.

"Yes, you do mind," you replied. "It's a surprise," you grinned at him and teleported the pair of you to the movie theater. People gasped when you appeared out of nowhere, but they recognized you quickly and your teleporting was immediately explained.

“Loki and Lady Sigyn!" came excited calls. You waved, but didn't go sign autographs.

"Which movie are we seeing, darling?" Loki asked as you moved to the ticket counter. He was reaching for his wallet. You touched his arm to stop him. He gave you a look, but didn't protest.

"My surprise, my treat," you told him. You bought the tickets, while hoping that Loki wouldn't see the movie poster. You had managed to hide this movie coming out from him for weeks, which was incredibly difficult when it was being advertised everywhere. "The great thing about seeing a movie is that we have to turn our phones off, so Fury can't find us for awhile," you told him while you were in line for popcorn. He wouldn't admit how much he liked the stuff, so he pretended he only wanted the popcorn so you could eat it.

"You really do not want to work today," he commented with a laugh.

"No, I don't. I need a day off. I finally got your voice back. I'm not cursed, or powerless, or next to dead. I am enjoying today. Plus Fury still owes me for the tape," you grumbled.

"Ah, so it is possible to push you past the limits of your kindness," Loki commented after you had our popcorn and were walking to the theater.

"It is. It just takes a really long time to get to that point,"

"I have noticed. Darling, we are literally walking into the theater where the movie is playing. Will you kindly tell me what we are going to see?" he asked with loving exasperation.

"Nope. You'll just have to wait and find out," you replied with a grin. "I've worked really hard to keep this a secret. Let me enjoy it." He sighed, but submitted and you took your usual seats in the middle of the theater.

It was well worth all of the trouble you had gone to, keeping the secret from him. His eyes lit up in delight when he the main character's name was spoken. /They made a movie about Hiccup the Viking!/ He was so excited it was adorable, nearly bouncing in his seat. The tales of Hiccup the Viking were his favorites growing up. He was fangirling over it the entire movie and wouldn't stop babbling afterwards about what parts were accurate and his favorite scenes.

You let him talk as we wandered the mall the movie theater was attached to. In his excitement he had switched back to Asgardian for his excited conversation. You chuckled at him and talked about the book and movie differences with him. You’d read the book too, in the original Asgardian.

The conversation didn't change from the movie until you teleported back to the compound late that evening. "I love seeing you so happy," you told him before kissing him, in the middle of the entryway.

"C'mon lovebirds, the party can't start until the guest of honor arrives," Nat grabbed your arm and dragged you to the commonroom, shoving a beer into your hand when you got there. All of the couches and chairs had been shoved against the walls. Loki was handed a beer when he entered the room too.

He was confused at all of the underage kids drinking. He was more confused when you actually started drinking the beer you had been handed. "You are not of age here," Loki told you, his tone mildly disapproving.

"True," you replied innocently.

"Neither are most of the kids here," he commented.

"Also true,"

"Then why-?"

"It's a house rule. Fury doesn't care if teenagers on the team drink, as long as we don't leave the tower, and that there's someone of age who stays sober," you indicated Clint who was very visibly drinking soda. "I haven't participated before, but I've been allowed to since I got my powers. Fury says that if we're willing to put our lives on the line to protect the city, we should be allowed to have a drink," you explained.It wasn’t known outside of the tower and had to stay that way. It wasn’t *exactly legal (in that it wasn’t at all), but the drinking stayed in the tower and no one had more than one or two if they were underage.Plus there was supposedly adult supervision.

The party consisted of club-style dancing to stupidly loud music and drinking too much alcohol.Clint was a terrible adult supervision. Ordinarily, you wouldn't have participated at all, but it was in your honor and you wanted a bit of fun before having to get back to the grind. So you danced with Loki, who did not seem affected by the alcohol, and drank too much alcohol yourself. You should have known better, but you didn't. It was your first time drinking, you were pressured by your friends, and you was stupid and naive.

Loki caught you around the waist when you was too giddy and the world had gotten too spinny and happy. "Darling, you are very, very drunk," he informed you, sounding concerned.He hadn’t realized the amount of alcohol it took to get a Midgardian drunk.

"You've had just as much as I have," you reminded him. You thought he'd even had more than you, though you’d lost track.

"I am not human," he reminded you, steering you from the room.

Tony stopped you when he saw how drunk you were. "Where are you two going?" he demanded over protectively.

"I am taking her to her bed," Loki replied sternly.He needed to get you off your feet and tucked safely into bed while you were still coherent.

"I think I'm drunk," you told Loki softly.

"About time you noticed," he commented dryly. You swayed and he threw you over his shoulder.Which was probably not the smartest move, but at least you didn’t throw up.

"You're not Thor!” you protested, smacking his back.

"Yes, darling. That is why you will not be stabbing me," he replied dryly.

Tony glared. "You can't take her up to bed," Tony told him firmly.He didn’t want you anywhere near your boyfriend while you were drunk.It was a sentiment you understood as you’d been raped once before, but you trusted Loki.

"I will not hurt her. I would rather kill myself than hurt her. You know that. She trusts me, even if you do not." Loki replied sourly. "That is why I am getting her out of here now,"

"If you hurt her-"

"You will kill me. So I have heard. Now, step aside so I can get her upstairs," Loki told Tony firmly.Tony growled another warning, but finally let Loki pass. 

"Why is everything dizzy?" you asked Loki when he had set you on your feet in your bedroom.

"Because you are one very drunk little witchling,” he reminded you. "No magic out of you," he added quickly before you could decide to play with fire while drunk. "Magic and alcohol are a bad combination." He conjured pajamas for you and managed to get you in the bed and staying there, which was impressive. You did get to enjoy quite a few kisses, until you reached for his pants, intending to go quite a bit further. He pushed your hand away. "No, darling. Not tonight. While I would love to have that experience with you, I will not do so when you do not know what you are doing, and when you are not capable of consenting."

"You don't want to?" you asked, illogically hurt.

"You really are too drunk," he mused. "I just said you would love to, but not like this. Not when you cannot think straight. Not when you cannot consent." That seemed to make sense, maybe. Things were too dizzy and illogical right then. "Why don't you lie down and see if the world will stop being dizzy?" he suggested. That was so very logical so you laid down next to him, taking one of his hands and holding it to your head. It was so hot in there. He chuckled and placed his other hand on the back of your neck.

The next thing you knew, you were groaning as the sun hit your eyes.You tried to hide against Loki, but he was gone. You sat up, moving too quickly, which just made your head hurt more, looking for where Loki had gone. There was a note on your nightstand as well as a giant glass of water and pain meds. You took the pain meds and drained the glass of water before you picked up the note.

-I am perfectly fine. I returned to my suite after you fell asleep. I did not want you to feel unsafe. I love you ~ Loki - you smiled, though you were embarrassed when you remembered what you had tried to initiate last night.

"Perfect gentleman as usual," you commented to yourself as you climbed out of bed. You praised all of the gods for the creation of excellent pain meds and padded across the hall in your pajamas and slipped into Loki's suite without bothering to knock. As per usual, he didn't lock his door. None of you bothered. The shielding protecting his suite recognized you and let you in without even a token resistance. You found him still in bed and looking adorable as he slept. You smiled and sat on the bed next to him, running your fingers through his hair.

He started to stir when you touched him, but only a little. "Shh, it's just me," you told him softly. He relaxed at the sound of your voice. You summoned a book and began reading it aloud as your fingers worked their way through his hair.

"You do justice to Hiccup's story," he murmured after you had read the first chapter.

You laughed. "Tired of pretending to be asleep?" you asked him.

He laughed too and opened his eyes. “ Definitely a pleasant way to start my day," he told you, sitting up to kiss you softly. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better than I should," you told him sheepishly. "Thank you for yesterday," you added, not quite daring to meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry I did not realize sooner how much alcohol would affect you,"

"Not your fault. I didn't know either," you reminded him. "I don't think I'll be trying that again anytime soon... or ever… and thank you for not...taking advantage of the situation,"

"I am not a monster," he told you stiffly with a growl that there was even an insinuation.

"No, but that wouldn't stop most men," you replied. you had heard the horror stories. Every girl heard about the men you had to fear, the men who would take advantage, find the weakest link, do other worse things to get what they wanted.

Loki hugged you to him. “There are no men like me,” he replied. "I love you, and would never do anything to hurt you," he reminded you gently.

"I love you too,"


	45. Chapter 45

You found out what Tom had sent you a few days later while you were sitting on the common room couch with Loki, doing your homework.You had been living in the tower so much since you’d gotten back that you were seriously considering giving up your apartment, since you never spent any time there anymore anyway.You needed to be at home in the tower, and it wasn’t like you couldn’t teleport to your classes.You didn’t need to solitude of the isolation of your apartment to hold yourself together after Loki had left, now that he was back.

"Kat, you got a letter," Tony told you as he entered the common room, holding the mail.He tossed the envelope your way. You grabbed it with telekinesis and floated it over to you gently. You could never catch items thrown in your direction any other way.You pulled it from the air and smiled when you saw it was from Tom. You ripped it open and pulled out two tickets and a letter.

-Kat,

You and Loki are coming to the premiere of the new Avengers' movie. It'll be a lot of fun. Kelly and I will help you get ready the day of the premiere. I know it's your first one.

See you there

Tom-

You laughed and handed the letter to Loki, who also laughed in delight at getting to spend time with his other friends.You looked at the tickets. It was still a couple months away. At least Tom had given you plenty of notice beforehand.Especially since the premiere wasn’t in the city. 

"Why are you two laughing?" Tony asked suspiciously.He wisely didn’t trust either of you laughing and trusted you less when you were both laughing. 

"We're going to Hollywood in a couple months for a movie premiere!” you told him excitedly, waving the tickets for emphasis. 

"You got invited to a movie premiere?" Tony asked, confused. He hadn’t gotten to the part where he would tell you that you couldn’t go.He’d get there eventually.Though he let you go to Asgard.And you were an adult.

"Tom," you explained simply.That was actually enough of an explanation. 

Tony huffed. "Why did you have to become friends with an actor?" he grumbled.

You shrugged. "It's fun, and it's the film crew's fault. They're the ones who confused Tom and Loki in the first place," you reminded him.

Tony just sighed. “I want to tell you that you can’t go, but it’s not like you haven’t been further away than across the country.Just be careful, imp," he told you firmly. 

"I'm always careful. It's not my fault trouble keeps finding me," you grumbled at him. Both he and Loki just laughed at you. You glared at them both in return.

*

Things around the tower actually stayed relatively quiet until Loki's birthday. He kissed you goodnight on March 31st, insisting that he was sleeping in his own suite that night and that you were not. You didn't argue with him, accepting his decision, but your suite was lonely without his presence. He had done this his last birthday here too. April 1st wasn't really his birthday, as the day the Sigynite flowers bloomed in Asgard wasn't really your birthday. You had assigned the date for his birthday for him his first year here, because it was April fool's day. That year he had swapped genders of everyone in the tower, except you and Helene. You figured he had a big plan set up for his birthday this year too.

-I miss you- you texted him as you laid in bed trying to fall asleep that night.

-I miss you too, but I want you safely away from the pranks, or accusations- he reminded you.He had done the same thing last time too.He didn’t want you in trouble for something that wasn’t your fault.

-I know-

-Tomorrow will be fun- he promised and you could practically hear the glee in his text. 

You made your way down to the common room early the next morning. No one was up yet, so you curled yourself in your spot on the couch with a book to wait for everyone to join you. You hadn’t seen any pranks yet, but that didn’t mean anything.

“KATHRYN WHERE IS THAT CURSED BOYFRIEND OF YOURS?" you heard Tony's roar through the entire tower. 

"Ah, the sweet dulcet sounds of my darling uncle,” you commented to no one, waiting until he stormed into the room to find out what Loki had done this time.

Nat came storming in to the room first. "Where the fuck is your boyfriend?" she demanded, but it was Tony's voice that came out of her mouth.

It took you a minute to understand before you started laughing so hard you nearly fell off the couch. "Haven't seen him," you finally managed. Nat was a tiny deadly assassin.Tony had to be pissed to be in her body. You just started laughing again.

More people started to file into the room, all of them were some mix of pissed and laughing their asses off. The game of the morning seemed to be finding out who had whose body.

"I need to go find Pepper, she’s probably freaked out,“ Tony said out of Nat’s body.You snorted. Pepper was probably having the time of her life "And find Loki so I can kick his ass for this." Tony growled and stomped off. Pepper came and sat down next to you shortly after. You saw her grin and the mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Having fun, Lo?" you asked him, recognizing that familiar going in his eyes.

Loki nodded from Pepper’s body. "Though Lady Natasha was quite upset with me for seeing her in Tony's naked body this morning. Apparently I must purchase a new black leather jacket for her to make up for it," he replied with a laugh.

"Are you buying her the jacket?" you asked, curiously.Loki usually didn’t give in to demands.

"It is already purchased and will be here tomorrow,” he replied with a grin.No one messed with Nat, not eve Loki.

"Smart choice," you replied with a laugh. Nat could be scary when she was angry. Though the scariest thing you saw that morning was Fury cooking breakfast for everyone. "You pranked Helene?" you demanded. That just wasn't nice.

"I asked her permission first. She said it sounded like fun," Loki replied from Pepper's body. "I would not prank her otherwise. That would be mean,"

"KAT! Tell that cursed boyfriend of yours to put this right!" Tony yelled awhile later, dragging Loki's body with him, but that wasn't Loki.

"That's not Loki," you told him calmly.

"I know. It's Pepper," Tony growled.

"Hi Pepper!” you waved. Pepper teleported over to you. Apparently she had Loki's powers that day too. 

"Hi Kat! This is so much fun!" she greeted you excitedly. "Loki, you have the most amazing birthday plans ever!" Pepper was an excited ball of happy and went over to Tony in Nat’s body to kiss him.

"Stop that!" Nat yelled from Tony's body. You just laughed. This whole thing was ridiculous and chaotic. Fury, from Helene's body, still made everyone go on patrol, while he was laughing his ass off at everyone's discomfort and the hilarity of the whole situation.

"Why didn't you get pranked?" Pepper asked you when she realized everyone else had..

"Loki loves me too much," you replied automatically.

"That is true," Loki replied. "It would be unwise to make mylady displeased with me,"

"Kat, you and Loki are on patrol this morning," Fury reminded you. You nodded and Loki disappeared up to Pepper's room to get ready. You used magic to summon your armor. You still had your usual powers.

"Kat, be careful. Pepper doesn't have Loki's powers. You'll have to be the main super on patrol today," Tony told you, overly worried as per usual.

You rolled your eyes. “Uncle Tony, we'll be fine. We've patrolled together how many times now? Plus it's the middle of the day on a Saturday. He treats me like an equal on patrols, and not just a support healer, like you do," you reminded him. He glared at you, but the effect was diminished coming from Nat’s body. He didn't do her scary anger look justice.

Loki came back downstairs in Pepper's armor and the two of you headed out on patrol. You teleported us to your starting point. "So you don't have your powers today?" you asked him.That was actually a point of concern.

"No, I do. Everyone else, however, has switched powers," he answered. That was a relief. "It is more fun to make your uncle worry,"

"Lady Sigyn!" a random reporter called as you were walking. "Do you have a new partner? Where's Loki?"

"He's with another patrol group today," you told her with a smile, easily lying thanks to your god-of-lies soulmate. "Animorph is my partner today." Pepper hadn’t officially chosen a name and secret identity, but she could go through a few until she decided on one.She was going with her shapeshifting ability for her identity for right now.Loki was wisely keeping silent. They would notice his voice coming out of Pepper's body and you weren't exactly advertising his birthday prank.

"Loki won't be jealous?" she asked, hoping for a juicy story.

You shook your head. "Not at all. Don't forget your mythology. Sigyn is the goddess of fidelity," you told her with a grin. "Besides, it's one day of patrol. There's nothing to be jealous of about patrol.” You gave out a couple of signatures and you continued on your way.

"Goddess of fidelity, huh?" Loki asked once you were away from the reporter.

"Well, she is..." you replied with a shrug. "She's also known as the fetterer. I thought it would be smart to at least read up on the superhero name I ended up with,"

"Smart plan, Sig," he replied. You rolled your eyes, but laughed at him. Your patrol path was quiet today, besides the reporter and some fans who saw you.

When you got back to the tower, Loki's birthday party was set up and waiting. You laughed when everyone jumped out from behind couches to yell 'surprise' at him. You squeezed his hand when you saw the hint of tears in his eyes. He was actually surprised that you would set up a surprise party for him. You had cake, ice cream, and pizza and everyone congratulated Loki on that year's prank. He got mostly books, prank gifts, and human magic tricks for birthday presents.

Your present for him was last. You summoned the small box and handed it to him. "It's not much, but it's my first time enchanting an object..." you hedged. You had worked hard on it, but it was your first time enchanting an object and you couldn't make it as cool as you wanted. He opened the box to reveal a gorgeous fancy watch. He slipped it on his wrist at once.

"It is lovely, darling. Thank you," he told you with a smile. "Now, how is it enchanted?" he asked curiously. He was more interested in your magic than the actual watch. You didn't blame him, but he was adorable about it as ever.

"Push both the buttons at the same time," you told him with a smile. He did so, and a bluish-green shield popped up around him.

"Very creative," he admired. You saw him investigating the magic in it further. "It looks like it is also set to automatically activate if I am attacked?" He asked for your confirmation.You nodded you agreement, not at all surprised that he could see what the spell did. "Very ingenious indeed." That was high praise from him. He leaned down to kiss you, or would have, except you were nearly the same height since he was still in Pepper's body. You held him at arm's length.

"Nu-uh, no kisses for you until you're back in your own body," you told him firmly. He pouted and Pepper looked especially pathetic when she pouted.

"I can kiss you instead!" Pepper offered from Loki's body.

"Thank you, no," you replied with a laugh. "I can live without kisses until the spell ends,"


	46. Chapter 46

"Have you ever been on an airplane?" you asked Loki a few weeks later as you were packing for our trip to Hollywood.

"No. I have not. Why are we not just making a portal?" he asked. Again.He really wasn’t pleased with the idea of flying instead of portaling. 

"Because we're traveling as humans," you reminded him. Again. "We're going to a human movie premiere and we're trying not to draw extra attention to ourselves.” That was impossible, given who you were, but you were still trying. 

"I still don't like that you're going at all," Tony announced from the doorway to your suite.

You rolled your eyes. “Uncle Tony, this is, like, the least dangerous thing we've done in ages," you reminded him.You were doing something normal and human for Odin’s sake. "And we're only traveling across the country, not to another realm, which is where we usually go,"

Tony sighed. "I hate when you're reasonable," he grumbled. You stuck your tongue out at him. "Fury wants to see you two before you leave,” he added, which just made things worse.Nothing good came out of going to Fury’s office.

"But we didn't do anything!" you complained. You hated getting called to Fury's office.

"Yeah, right," Tony replied with a laugh.

You checked your phone for the time and zipped your bag. "We'd better get down there and see what he wants," you told Loki as you slung the bag over your shoulder.You weren’t at all surprised when Loki took it from you, carrying both of your bags. You hadn't had to pack much, so you didn’t complain when he was just trying to be courteous. Tom said you would be supplied with outfits for the actual premiere, so you hadn't had to pack much in the way of clothes. It was mostly all reading material for the flight. You’d even packed a couple books in Asgardian, because you got annoyed by stupid reporters always asking what you were reading, or sneaking pictures of the covers to end up in tabloids.That couldn’t happen with Asgardian books.

Loki set your bags by the door and you made your way to Fury's office to see what he wanted. At least he was usually brief about whatever he wanted to discuss. Loki let you take the lead, since Fury liked you better. He and Loki never saw eye to eye.Especially after Fury had Loki tortured. 

You knocked on Fury's office door. "Enter," came Fury's voice from inside almost immediately.

You opened the door and stepped in with Loki at your heels. "You asked to see us?" you asked him pleasantly, drawing from the innocent little girl act you had perfected over the years of living in the tower.It usually got you out of the worst of the trouble you landed yourself in. 

"Drop the act, Kat. You're not in trouble. If you are, I haven't found out about it yet and don't want to know," Fury told you firmly. you laughed and took a seat in front of his desk.

"This will be brief," Fury started. you smirked. "I just wanted to remind you two that we do not have jurisdiction in Hollywood, at least not primary jurisdiction. So no heroics, no healing, no magic stronger than that weird clothes-changing spell you two love so much, while you're there unless the Protectors team specifically and directly asks for your help.We don’t want to get the Avengers involved and trumping their team,” there were different superhero teams spread throughout the world.Since the Avengers were the first, you had jurisdiction to outrank any of the other teams, but it was bad form to do so, unless specifically asked to help.“Their leader goes by Wrath. Here's his number," he handed the business card to you, which you prompted vanished into your purse. "Call him when your flight lands. He shouldn't ask for anything from you, but you have to check in. Don't argue, Kat. It's protocol anytime supers on the team travel outside our true jurisdiction, especially supers as strong and famous as you two,"

"Fine, I'll call him," you grumbled. "And I'll be nice," you added when Fury just glared at you.He didn’t trust you to behave when you were in the tower, he trusted you to behave even less when you were out of sight.

"Good. Make sure you let Tony know when you land,"

"Fury, you almost sound like you care," you teased as you stood again.

"I do care, kid. Just don't tell the others,” Fury replied with a teasing smirk. 

"Your secret is safe with me," you took Loki's hand and you left the office together. After a goodbye to Tony and Pepper and promises that you’d be perfectly fine during a weekend trip where you didn't even leave the country, you finally got to leave for the airport. You drove since Loki didn't know where you were going or how airports worked.

"Why did you give money to that man?" Loki asked when the parking lot shuttle dropped you off at the actual airport.

"It's what you do, like tipping the waitstaff in a restaurant," you explained as you waited in line at the check-in. You checked our bags, though you kept your purse and the bag full of books that was your carry-on.

"They are taking our bags?" Loki asked, concerned.He didn’t like his things being out of his sight, especially when he could have just vanished them.You nodded and apologized to the nice check-in lady, explaining quickly that Loki wasn't from around here.

"Yes, the bags go in storage on the plane. We'll pick them up again when we land. C'mon, we have to go through security," you told him. You grabbed his hand and led him to security. "You need your ID, get the Avengers' one out too," you told him as you reached into your purse to grab both of yours. You had been issued ID cards by the Avengers saying that you worked for them.It sped things up in situations like this.

"Why is this necessary?" Loki asked as he got his IDs out of his wallet.

"Bad guys used planes to attack the country, so they upped security. It won't be that bad, I promise," you reassured him.You flashed a smile to the security guard at the entrance to the priority line as you handed him our tickets and your IDs.

"Good morning, Miss Stark,” he greeted you pleasantly. "Do you have any official duty items you are traveling with that you need to declare?" he asked. You took off your enchanted dagger sheath and handed it to him.

"Just this." The dagger sheath couldn't leave your possession. If it got too far away it teleported back to you.

"An empty dagger sheath? I think that's ok," the guard told you with a smile and a wink. Everyone knew about your daggers, but since you were one of the good guys, he would let you get away with bringing it on the plane. Especially since you couldn’t be parted with it.You nodded and took it back from him. You took Loki's IDs from him and handed them to the guard.

"He doesn't have anything to declare. It's his first time flying," you added when the guard was confused on why Loki wasn't speaking up for himself. Loki was out of his element here and letting you take the lead.

"Go on through the line," he told you, marking off on your tickets that you had shown him your IDs. You handed Loki's IDs back to him.

"You can put these away now, love. I promise this will be over soon," you took his hand and noticed that he was holding yours too tightly. He was nervous and overwhelmed by Midgardian customs he didn’t understand. You ran your thumb over the soulbond marks on the back of his hand, soothing him. He gave you a small smile. Since you had priority status, you made it directly to the metal detectors quickly. You threw your carry-on on the belt and threw your shoes and purse in one of the tubs, as well as your dagger sheath and phone. You took a moment to explain the process to Loki and was just glad you made it through security without additional screening. You don't think that would have gone well. The second you were through security, you started to put your hat back on your head, but it was too late. People had already seen your comic-book red hair, which was even more distinctive now with its raven streak. You just tied your hair back out of your way instead of bothering with the hat.

"I told you that would not work," Loki laughed at you as he finished putting his shoes back on.

"I know, but it was worth a try," you grumbled. You vanished the hat back to your suite at home. If it wasn't going to help, there was no need of traveling with it. You checked the tickets and the sign on the wall with all of the flight information. "This way," you told him, grabbing his hand so he wouldn't get lost. You made your way through the huge airport to where your plane would be taking off from. After a quick stop for coffee, you settled in chairs with books to wait for boarding to begin. Things were fine until a woman nearby began playing the latest Avengers movie on her laptop for her kids to keep them entertained and quiet. "On no," you murmured and tried to hide your face behind your book. It didn't help, especially sitting next to Loki.

The kids noticed first. "Mom! I think that's Loki and Sigyn," one of them announced. You sighed. You were doomed. You saw Loki's smirk, but besides that he didn't move from reading his book. A few minutes later you were swamped for autographs. It took the flight crew calling for priority, first class, and military passengers to board for you to be saved. You excused ourselves. Loki grabbed the bag full of books for you and you headed to the line to get on the plane. You stood back to let the military people go first. Then you took care of handing our tickets to the nice lady at the gate so Loki didn’t have to. Your seats weren't hard to find. You were in first class. You let Loki have the window seat so he could watch the flight. The bag of books went under the seat in front of you.

Loki clutched your hand when the plane was taking off. "What's wrong?" you asked him, switching to Asgardian, so you wouldn't be overheard.

"The last time I flew was under Thor's power... it is disconcerting," he finally answered in the same language.

"We'll be fine, love. Even if the plane were to go down, which it won't. We would be the two people who are guaranteed to survive it," you reminded him.

"That is less than helpful, darling," he replied in English, but laughed.

"Just read your book," you replied. The flight was uninteresting and fairly standard, though too long, since you were flying across the country. You were both grateful when you finally landed, especially since you were nearly the first ones off the plane.

"Let us never travel this way again," Loki grumbled, trying to stretch. Even in first class he had been cramped as he was too tall to be comfortable in the seats. 

You laughed at him. "We're going home this way too," you reminded him.

He groaned. "That is a terrible idea," he whined. You laughed harder and you made your way to collect your bags and then your rental car. You weren’t old enough to rent a car and Loki wasn’t human, but exceptions were made and you finally got a car.You tossed Loki the keys when you had them and pulled out your phone to call Wrath.

"Wrath," he answered in one ring.

"Hi Wrath. This is Sigyn and Loki. Fury told us we were to contact you when our flight landed," you told him simply as Loki followed the GPS' directions to your hotel.

"Lady Sigyn. I'm glad to hear you arrived safely. What are your plans while you're in Hollywood?" he asked courteously. 

"We're doing tourist things today and then have the movie premiere tomorrow. We fly back out on Sunday," you replied with your basic itinerary. 

"Great. Come by the compound after you get settled at your hotel. The team wants to meet you, and I'll make sure you get passes to the tourist things you’ll want to see. I'll send you the address,"

"Thank you, Wrath. We'll see you soon," you ended the call. "We have to go play with the other supers," you told Loki once the call was ended. He laughed at your description and reluctantly agreed to go help the others. You texted Tony to let him know you had landed safely.

"It appears so. We’re nearly to the hotel," he told you, checking with the GPS. Tom had set up the hotel arrangements for you, so you didn't even know where you were staying. It was apparently near the premiere. The valet took your rental car the second you got to the hotel and bellhops took your bags from you immediately. All of them got tipped generously.

"This place is fancy," you commented to Loki as you made your way to the check-in counter. "Let me," you whispered to Loki, who nodded and gave you the lead.You were more used to dealing with humans than he was and he knew it.

"May I help you?" the man behind the desk asked extremely politely.

"Hi," you greeted him with an overly bright smile. "We have reservations, but I'm not sure what name they're under. Tom Hiddleston set them up for us," you explained.

You saw the hesitation, then the change to a glare in his eyes a moment later.That wasn’t a good thing. "You're the fourth pair who have tried to claim they know Mr. Hiddleston today," he told me sourly. You saw that he was about to call security. Your smile didn't falter, just shifted to the one you used when people were being stupid. You reached into your purse and pulled out your IDs, laying them both on the counter where he could see them.

"My name is Y/N Stark.You may know you as Lady Sigyn. This is Loki. Tom set up reservations for us here so we could attend the premiere of the new Avengers film." You placed the tickets on the counter with your IDs. "Do you require additional proof?" you asked him pleasantly.

"No, Miss Stark. Thank you for your understanding. Here are your room keys. You're on the top floor. Mr. Hiddleston has the suite across the hall from yours,"

"Thank you," you replied, sweeping your IDs and tickets back into your purse. You grabbed your room keys and you followed the bellhops up to the top floor. They set your bags inside the suite for you, which is when they got their tips.

The suite was fantastic and you were pretty sure they were some of the fanciest rooms in the city. "Tom doesn't skimp," you commented, grabbing your bag to take it to the bedroom. "These are super fancy rooms and probably stupidly expensive," you explained to Loki. He nodded and looked impressed.

You sighed, just wanting to rest for a little while, traveling was exhausting, but you had things to do. You used magic to summon a dark green dress for yourself and wedge sandals and redo your hair in soft curls down your back. You didn't have to worry about this being a completely illogical outfit to fight in. You were completely off duty for once. "We should see if Tom's here," you told Loki as you left the hotel room again.

"Of course," he knocked on the door to the suite across the hall, but there was no answer. You weren't really surprised and knew you’d see Tom and Kelly later. So you were safe to leave the hotel.Loki drove you across town to the Protectors’ compound.

"Why do we have to play with the other supers?" you whined at Loki. You just wanted to have fun today.

"It is the cost of being famous, love," he replied with a chuckle. "We deal with it all the time back on Asgard too," he reminded you.

You huffed. "I know. I can still be tired of it."

"And we are going to a movie premiere tomorrow, which will be shown live on television, correct?" he asked.

You nodded. "That at least sounds like fun. You know I suck at socializing,"

"You do just fine at home," he reminded you reasonably, wondering where this mood of yours was coming from.

"They're family. These are strangers," you replied, grabbing his hand. You were uneasy around strangers, for all that you usually did a good job hiding it. You were used to your fame even if you hated it most of the time.

"I know, darling. We will do our obligation here, and then it will just be the two of us adventuring in the city," he reminded you gently.

"Promise?" you asked.

"I promise," he gave you a reassuring smile as you parked in one of the visitor's spots in front of the Protectors’ compound. He came around and opened your car door, offering you a hand to help you out of the car. You took it and you walked up to the main entrance hand-in-hand. You didn't even have to knock before the door was opening.

"Who are you?" the middle aged man who opened it demanded. You weren't used to being questioned on your identity so often. It was weird.

"Lady Sigyn and Loki here to see Wrath," you replied formally. You held out your Avengers' ID for his inspection. The guard stepped back to let you in.

"You're expected. It's an honor to meet both of you. Wrath will be down shortly. Hey, Kira, show our guests to the common room," the guard flagged down a passing teen.

The girl nodded. "Lady Sigyn, Loki, this way," she told you with the air of someone star-struck. You hoped they all weren't going to be like this. You followed her to the common room. It was set up so similarly to your common room at home that it nearly felt like home. The supers here all had that same star-struck expression when they realized who you were. "Can I get you anything to drink?" Kira asked as you found a couch to settle on to wait for Wrath.

"Do you have any hot tea?" you asked. She nodded and darted off. Soon the braver supers were coming over demanding stories and demonstrations of powers and to see the soulbond marks on your arms.

"Children, leave our guests alone," Wrath said as he entered the room. You set down your tea and stood to you could greet him properly. You shook his hand, all politeness and manners, and pretending that everyone you knew didn't think you were some kind of troublemaker/trickster. Loki was equally formal and polite. "So what's the news from the Avengers' side of the country?" Wrath asked. You should have expected him to try to pump you for information.

"Things have actually been pretty quiet recently," you replied with a smile. "At least quiet enough for us to get a couple days off,"

"Surely there must be some word of what Balder is up to..." he persisted.

"If there is, I haven't heard anything," you replied with your adorable innocent girl routine, which generally fooled any adult besides Fury. "I am just a rookie after all,"

"And Balder would hardly let me know what he is up to," Loki added. That was true at least. Loki was the last person Balder would want to know his plans. Wrath regarded you, but you were so practiced at lying and looking innocent that he let the matter go.

"Come, regale us all the tales of your bravery!" Wrath bid, drawing cheers from the supers who were gathered. You let Loki do most of the talking for this one, he was the better tale spinner most of the time since he was the god of stories after all. He was completely in his element here, discussing the bad guys you’d taken on and your battles with Balder.

You spent a couple hours with the Protectors. In exchange for your stories, Wrath gave you VIP passes to a couple of the big touristy attractions you had been hoping to visit. You thanked him for his hospitality and went to go finally have fun. People still recognized us of course, but you were tourists here too and could act like it. So you had fun taking silly pictures and touring the tourist attractions all afternoon.

-Did you guys ever make it to town?- Tom texted you late that afternoon.

-Yes. We had to visit the Protectors when we got here and we've been doing tourist stuff all day. You guys weren't in when we checked in-

-Glad you made it!- He replied.

A couple minutes later a group text came through. All it had was an address and the word 'assemble'. You laughed and showed it to Loki.

"Shall we?" he asked with his usual glint of fun and mischief.

"Of course,"

The address ended up being a nice restaurant near your hotel. You could actually park at the hotel and walk there, which you did so you didn’t have to worry about the car.When you entered, the waitstaff immediately led you to a table where the cast of the Avengers' movies were already gathering. "Sigyn! Loki!" they greeted you brightly. You were met with hugs by your friends on the cast, including Tom and Kelly.

"Where is your hair?!?” Loki demanded of Tom when he saw him with a tone of true concern. Tom wasn't wearing the Loki wig today and his hair was naturally brown and wavy and much shorter.It would have been curly had it been a little longer. The crowd laughed at Loki’s horrified reaction.

"I have to wear a wig to play you," Tom replied gently.None of you had been expecting Loki to be upset.

"I think he's only ever seen you wearing the wig, sorry Tom, I hadn't thought to make him watch any of your other movies," you added sheepishly. Loki still looked concerned. "Lo, it's alright,” you tried to reassure him.

"But Sig..." he started.You understood, by his culture, it wasn’t alright at all. 

"You two are sitting by Kelly and me," Tom interrupted, showing you the empty places. "We're only waiting for Chris,”

Loki pulled out your chair for you, as per usual.He was still clearly upset.“Are you sure it’s alright?” He asked you and Tom softly when you were seated.“Where I come from having one's hair shorn is a sign of disgrace or servitude," Loki explained, explaining to the table why he was upset over Tom’s short hair. 

"It's nothing like that," you told him again, patiently. "Men usually have short hair here. Tom only didn't for the movies because the character has long black hair, so they gave him a wig to wear." Loki didn't look entirely convinced, but let it go. Chris, who played Thor in the movies, finally arrived and you got to all enjoy your dinner together, catching up.

Tom leaned over to whisper in your ear part of the way through dinner. "We're all going to a club after this. It's a bit of a tradition for dancing. You're not 21 are you?" he asked.

You shook your head. "I'm not, but I can get in," you reassured him.Though that wasn’t exactly something you should be advertising, which you knew.

"I would never presume to ask-" He hedged quickly.

You shook your head and gave him a smile. "You haven't asked, and I won't do anything stupid that could get you in trouble," you replied with a mischievous grin.

"So are you joining us?" Chris asked loudly. You nodded and blushed a little at the attention. These guys were all famous. Sometimes you neglected to remember how famous you were too as they seemed on a different tier of famousness.

You all went as a group to the club nearby. You didn't even get carded since you were with the entire cast of the Avengers' movies, so you didn’t feel bad about sneaking in. You danced for hours with them, all being silly and happy together. You and Loki laughed when Kelly, Chris, and Scarlett all had a dance-off in the middle of the floor. Somehow Loki won the dance-off. No one was quite sure how that happened when he wasn’t even participating. 

It was stupidly late when you all stumbled back to the hotel. The whole cast was laughing, though, most of them drunk, though not you as you’d kept your word to behave. The group was so much fun to be around and you were glad you’d made friends with them, even if you weren't officially part of the cast.


	47. Chapter 47

Your phone woke you and Loki both stupidly early the next morning with its incessant ringing.Why was the stupid thing ringing? It was too early for such nonsense after how late you’d been up the previous night. "Hello?" you growled into it, not bothering to check to see who was calling you.It was too early for any such nonsense.

"Meet me outside your suite in five minutes. No Loki, no excuses," Kelly's voice greeted me, sounding much too chipper and awake. 

"Kelly?" you groaned, sitting up to look at the clock. It was after 8am. You had only thought it was stupidly early because you’d been up dancing stupidly late.And you never ever seemed to get enough sleep no matter how hard you tried.

"Yes. Now get up. You're down to four minutes," she grumbled at you in the phone.

"Where are we going?" you asked as you got out of bed and began rummaging in your bag for something to wear.

"To get ready for the premiere of course. Plain clothes is fine. Hurry up,"

"Kelly, it's 8am. The premiere isn't until 6 tonight. What can _possibly_ take all day?" You whined. 

"You'll find out. Come on!" she hung up on you then.

You groaned and glared at your phone incredulously.You weren’t used to people talking to you like that.Not anymore.And while you were annoyed, you were also glad to be spoken to like a real person and not a celebrity or a super strong super.

"What's going on?" Loki asked groggily.He wasn’t a morning person either, especially not after a late night.

"Apparently it is going to take me and Kelly all day to get ready for this premiere. And you're not allowed to come," you told him, tossing your phone on the bed so you could find something to wear. You finally settled on jeans, a nice shirt, and your converse. Kelly could just deal with it if she didn't like your outfit. Or you’d change it with magic later. "I'm sure Tom will be coming for you soon," you told him as you brushed out your hair. There was a pounding on your suite's door. "Shit, that was a fast four minutes," you grabbed your phone and purse, kissed Loki goodbye and went to greet Kelly who on the other side of the door, prepared to keep pounding.

"Took you long enough," she greeted you with a smile. She pressed a cup of coffee into your hands. You gave her a smile then instead of the curse words you were _going_ to give her.You refrained from that since she gave you coffee.

"Thanks," you told her. "Morning Tom," you greeted him when you saw him standing behind Kelly.He was impossible to miss since he was so tall.

"Have fun you two," he told you warmly. "Is Loki still in bed?" he asked with a smile before Kelly could drag you away. 

You nodded and gave him a reassuring look. "I think he was hoping to get more sleep. He is clothed, though, if you're planning on ruining his plans," you told Tom with a grin. He gave you a mischievous grin in return, one that looked far too much like your Loki’s.

"Of course I am." He then looked concerned. "It will just be you two girls today. Kel, are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" He sounded so adorably concerned, though usually the humans weren’t as overprotective as the gods and supers in your life.

You drew a dagger from the sheath at your back with a well practiced movement and spun it in an elegant flourish to reassure him. "We'll be fine, Tom," you reminded him as you re-sheathed the dagger.That was even without magic.

"Yes, don’t forget that I have Lady Sigyn guarding me today," Kelly reminded him and gave him a kiss goodbye.She was perfectly safe in your care. 

/Lo, Tom's going to barge in to drag you out to do...something. Kindly don't kill him for breaking in to our suite/ you warned Loki. You’d let Tom have his fun, but you didn't want him to die for it.Loki could get a bit stabby when he was barged in on.Especially when he wasn’t expecting it.And you really didn’t want him to hurt Tom. 

You left with Kelly and found that she had a driver hired for the day. Apparently it was common on premiere day. You spent all morning getting your hair and nails done, as well as all sorts of uncomfortable waxing. You were reassured numerous times that it was mandatory in order to look your best for the premiere and on TV. You weren't convinced, but Kelly was having fun, so you tried. /Kelly's torturing me with getting my hair and nails done. And waxing/ you whined at Loki while you were boredly waiting for your nails to dry.

He laughed at you in reply. /Tom decided I needed to watch a...baseball game, since he found out that I had never seen one. It is quite boring/ Loki whined at you across the bond.

/So is waiting for my nails to dry/ you huffed back at him.

You had a light lunch at a little bistro near the salon and then spent the entire afternoon with the stupid dress people. You had to be fitted for a gown. A designer gown. Despite your protests that you could summon a perfectly tailored gown with magic.Then there was jewelry, and makeup, and all sorts of hell that you’d never go through voluntarily on your own. Hell, for your prom, Loki had used magic to conjure your outfits and do your hair. The last time you had done anything like this had been the day of your soulbond ceremony in Asgard.

You ended up in a dark blue ballgown with silver sparkles all over it. It looked like the night sky and was absolutely gorgeous. It also had no sleeves. You had a feeling that they wanted to show off the soulbond marks on your arm. You also had to wear stupidly spiky heels tonight. Great. Just what you didn’t need.

There were two limos waiting outside of the dress place. You never did find out what that place actually was. Oops.It wasn’t really important.

Tom was standing outside one of the limos and Loki was waiting at the other. Both were wearing gorgeous suits. They moved almost simultaneously to greet you and Kelly. Loki bowed over your hand and kissed the soulbond marks on your knuckles. "Lady Y/N,” he greeted you with a smile. "You look ravishing as ever, my darling,"

"And you are the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on, my prince," you replied. You saw his shocked expression at that, but it was fleeting, replaced with a glowing, loving smile. You’d never called him a prince before, except when you introduced him to your parents using his formal title. He didn't seem to mind at all and in fact seemed pleased by the term of address. He offered you his hand.

"Shall we, princess?" he asked, reminding you that on Asgard, you were, in fact, a princess. You placed your hand on his arm and he led you to the limo. The driver was standing at the open door waiting to close it behind you. Loki helped you in. You moved to slide over so he could climb in after you, but both he and the driver stopped me. "Darling, this is your side. A princess does not slide." He went around the limo and got in on the other side.

"This is so weird and fancy," you told him softly.

"It is fun. Relax and enjoy it," Loki bid you warmly, making you beam up at him. 

It was a short drive to the red carpet of the premiere. You were glad that the limo driver seemed to know what he was doing, since you had no idea what was going on or what you should expect.Tom had promised to help you, but he apparently didn’t think you needed help with this part. 

The limo driver opened Loki's door first. Both of them came around the limo to open your door. Loki reached down a hand to help you out of the limo. You were grateful for it. You rarely wore heels as you hated them and always felt like you were going to fall. You were nearly blinded by the lights of the cameras going off in front of you. You stood next to Loki for a minute while your picture was taken repeatedly.

"You are tall tonight," Loki commented while the pictures were being taken, careful not to move his mouth too much. He’d learned how to deal with the press on his time on Midgard.

"I have to wear heels with this dress. If I fall, I'm taking you down with me," you threatened.

Loki laughed and the cameras flashed faster.“Then I shall have to make sure you do not fall," he replied with a smile.

After your eyes adjusted, Loki offered you his hand in formal Asgardian escort. You placed your hand on his and you made your way down the red carpet. It was slow going, as you kept getting sidetracked by people wanting autographs.

Loki and Tom both got stopped by a woman dressed as Lady Loki in the crowd. She requested that they kneel, and neither Loki or Tom could deny her. Both of them knelt elegantly, bowing their heads to her.You and Kelly both laughed at their antics. They really were far too similar for anyone’s good. You were also not prepared to be interviewed by the press, but you was so used to being interviewed and famous that you didn't think anything of it. After that you had to take a big group cast picture, which Loki and you were somehow invited to participate in. You had tried to decline, tried to remind them that you weren't part of the cast, but they all insisted that you were and you got dragged into the picture.

It wasn't long before you could take your seats. The director came out to say a few words, then: "Before we start the film, we would like to present to you... the gag reel!" There was a roar of applause from the crowd.

"Oh gods," you grumbled, horrified. You were sure you were going to be featured on the gag reel.You had had far too much fun playing around with the cast when they were at the tower filming for you not to be. You weren’t let down in the slightest. The gag reel was hilarious as expected, even though it did feature you running around the set with the entire cast chasing you to get their prop weapons back, your impromptu dinner after filming one day, all of the Loki extras claiming to be Loki when your uncle was looking for your Loki, as well as other bits of silliness and lack of ability of the cast to remember their lines, or not mess them up when the cameras were rolling. The gag reel ended with the scene of the entire cast bowing down to you sitting on a 'throne' in one of the restaurants you frequented after filming one day.

The crowd cheered at the gag reel when it had ended.

You enjoyed the movie with the cast.You had already seen it, of course, but it was still nice to see the official final version.

There was a huge after party with the entire cast and crew and of course reporters and fans. The party was fun and lasted all night and you ended up with all sorts of swag from the crew, including gifts from the director. Loki was given the iconic scarf the character wore when he was wearing Earth clothes. You were given Sigyn's necklace from the movie. "We hope you'll agree to being in future movies with us," the director said with a grin before the party broke up.

You promised that you would.

This one had been such fun after all.


	48. Chapter 48

Thankfully your flight wasn't first thing in the morning. You would have died if you’d had to get up that early.You made sure to say your goodbyes to Tom and Kelly and thank them for inviting you to the premiere. It had been a lot of fun.

"Are you two attending the masquerade ball this year?" Tom asked you before you left.

"What masquerade ball?" Loki asked. Poor soul.He would find out soon enough. 

"It's an annual event the Avengers throw for charity. It's coming up in about a month. We'll be there," you told explained to Loki and added the last part for Tom. You were already planning to attend.

"We will see you there, then," he replied with a grin. 

"Why have we not attended this ball before?" Loki asked as you were waiting for your plane in the airport later that morning.You were still both barely awake. 

"I wasn't going by myself last year. The year before... there was some emergency? I think it was when we were in the infirmary after our battle with Balder. I've attended almost every year, though I’ve never been able to participate in the super's waltz at the end of the night," you told him a little wistfully. 

"The super's waltz?" he asked, noting your expression. 

You nodded and continued on to explain."Everyone who attends the ball wears a mask. The supers all wear their costume masks to protect their human identities, even though everyone will know their superhero identities from the masks. It's part of the fun. Anyway, the last dance of the night is the super's waltz where all of the supers in attendance are the only ones who dance it. I've never attended while I've actually been able to participate," you explained. It was something you’d wanted to do since you’d moved into the tower.

Loki nodded and gave you a warm smile. “It sounds like fun,"

"It is. I've gone nearly every year since you was a kid. It was the exact kind of thing my parents had enjoyed doing, and was the one night a year they could get me to wear a dress when I was little. Some of the supers have been my friends since my first ball," you added, smiling fondly at the memories from all of those balls and dancing with all of the supers through the years.

"Then we will most definitely attend," Loki replied.He would do anything that made you so excited. 

*

It took forever to get back home. The flight was long and Loki was grumpy.Loki grumbled that you were never travelling that far the human way again. You didn't blame him. You tried telling him to sleep on the plane, but he was too stressed by flying to even think about sleeping. You laid your head on his shoulder while you were in the air, not expecting to actually sleep, but you didn't wake again until the plane was landing. You looked up at Loki with an accusing look. He tried to look innocent. You didn't believe him. You had needed the nap, so you didn't yell at him for spelling you to sleep.

You finally made it home, where you was greeted by hugs from Tony and Pepper. Pepper hugged Loki too. Loki looked put-upon and grumbled, but he was pleased that he was accepted "Glad you're home, Kat," Tony greeted you warmly. "Fury wants you two in the training room in ten minutes," he added with a grin. "Veronica told him when you'd be back. She's left by the way, went back home with her husband since she wasn't needed here anymore,"

You sighed. "Guess we have work to do," you told Loki as you shoved Tony off of you.Of course work started the second you got home.

"So it appears," Loki agreed.

"Workout clothes," Tony called as you grabbed your bag to rush upstairs so you could get changed and get back downstairs in ten minutes.

"Darling, we have magic," Loki reminded you before you made it to the stairs.

"Oh...right," you vanished your bags up to your room and used magic to change into workout clothes.

"Why do your workout clothes not include a shirt?" Tony demanded with a growl when he saw what you were wearing. 

"A sports-bra is a shirt, or do you not remember than you guys are usually shirtless before the halfway point of Fury's exercises?" you reminded Tony grumpily.

Tony huffed, but couldn't argue on that particular point, much as he wanted to. "Come on, then. We're training with you guys too," Tony said as he took Pepper's hand. It was then that you realized that both of them were in workout clothes too. Loki vanished his bag, changed his clothes, and came up beside you so you could all walk together.

"How was the premiere!?" Pepper asked as you walked down to the training room."You guys looked so amazing!" you had forgotten the event was televised. So you chatted with Pepper about the premiere and how much fun you’d had with the cast. 

"Come on, you four. We're waiting on you!" Fury called when you got to the room. There were pairs of awkward-looking supers all around the training room. Most of them were rookies, supers who were new to the team this year. You smiled when you had an idea what this was.

/This will be fun/ you told Loki.

/What is this?/ Loki replied as you went out on the training room floor to stand like the other pairs.

/You'll see, if I'm right that is/

"You will all be dancing the super's waltz this year, which means you all need to learn how to waltz," Fury announced.

You tried to hide your grin and you saw Loki fighting to hide his as well. No one had told Fury that you could dance better than anyone in this room. Tony smirked over at you. He knew how well you could dance. You briefly wondered why he was there, he could dance and had been going to the ball for at least as long as you had. You then saw that his partner was Pepper. That would be why. She hadn’t been a super last year for this particular waltz, though really it wasn’t that different than any other.”Tony, Kat, you know you two already know the steps. Demonstrate for them for the others," Fury ordered. You summoned a t-shirt over your sports bra, which Tony gave you a look of thanks for.He didn’t like seeing that much of your skin.

You took your place in front of him when Pepper graciously stepped aside. You both took the position and the music started. Tony wasn't as graceful as Loki, but he knew the dance and knew the moves. You started slow, for the benefit of the others, but soon you were twirling your way across the floor. You had danced with Tony before when you were growing up, so your dance was almost as smooth and graceful as your dancing with Loki was. You were both laughing and smiling from remembered dances before the song was over.

"Stop showing off," Fury grumbled. "You were just supposed to show them the basic steps." You and Tony both sighed and went back to demonstrating the basic steps. Fury announced directions to the others while they could watch you. Fury clapped his hands and Tony and you could finally stop dancing together and both went back to your actual partners the second you could. You loved your uncle, but you’d much rather dance with Loki.

/Wanna show off?/ you asked Loki when you had taken your place back in front of him.

/Of course/ Loki grinned at you. Tony gave you a knowing look from where he was getting into position with Pepper.

The music started again. You and Loki danced the basic steps for about two executions of the six steps, then you broke off and began twirling your way across the floor with a fluid grace that Tony just hadn't been able to match. This was the type of dancing that Loki loved, and you saw the joy in his eyes as you made our way around the room.

There were applause when the music ended again. Loki bowed elegantly and you dipped into a well-practiced curtsy, even though you were in pants and not a skirt today.

"You didn't tell me that you already know how to dance," Fury grumbled at you both, though mostly directed at Loki.

"The question was not asked," Loki replied pleasantly. Fury just laughed.

"You two can help the others," Fury barked. You sighed, but did as you were bid and moved around the room helping the others, as did Tony and Pepper. 

There would be many more practices over the course of the next month. It was a point of pride to Fury to have all of the supers dance the waltz well.


	49. Chapter 49

You were studying on your couch in the common-room when a piece of paper appeared among your notes in a small flash of gold light.You weren’t expecting any messages. Especially not any traveling by magic parchment.Those only came from two places: Loki or Frigga.And coming from gold magic.That could only mean that it had come from Frigga.

You glanced over at Loki and saw that hadn't noticed the magic or looked up from his book. Which meant he wasn’t supposed to know about this message.Your heart dropped, knowing it couldn’t be good.You finally looked down at the slip of parchment.

On it was written familiar words you had memorized for the soulbond ceremony in Asgard as well as a note from Mama Frigga herself:_Learn the words. Learn them well. The day is coming when you will need them. ~Frigga_

That was ominous and your heart filled with dread that you had to keep off of your face so Loki couldn’t see your dread and terror. Frigga's abilities to see the future were stronger than Loki's. From what you knew, she was never wrong. You were tempted to show the note to Loki, but you knew that Frigga hadn't sent it to him for a reason. He wasn’t supposed to know.If he knew, it would interfere with the future that Frigga had seen. So you tucked the note in with your school notes, after reciting the words ceremonial words to yourself once. If Frigga was telling you that you would need them, you knew that it was true.

You tried to distract yourself with your homework after that, though it was difficult to concentrate.You hadn't realized you were humming to yourself while you were studying until Loki commented. "Darling, I love you dearly, but please get a different song stuck in your head. You have had the duet from Superhero Musical stuck in your head for three days straight and it is driving me crazy," he grumbled.

You just laughed at him, but at least he hadn’t heard you reciting the soulbond oaths in your mind on repeat instead."Poor baby," you replied and stuck your tongue out at him. You had thought you’d blocked out the part of your brain that kept singing that particular song on repeat. Loki had taught you a lot about compartmentalizing your mind so you could focus on different tasks, and block out telepathy when you didn't want to use it. Unfortunately for him, you had shoved the song in the compartment with the thoughts of the people around you, so it was annoying him as he could overhear it unintentionally. You moved it to its own compartment and set up another one to repeat the ceremonial words over and over and over again. You were not going to doubt Frigga's word that you would need them and you were determined to be prepared when the moment came.

"Thank you," Loki said when you had moved the song. You nodded and got back to your notes.

"Loki, can you sub patrol tonight for Pepper? She has a meeting tomorrow," Tony asked that evening.

Loki inclined his head, willing to do Pepper the favor. "Will you be alright?" he asked you after he’d agreed and Tony had left to get ready.

You rolled your eyes. "Lo, I'm fine. Try not to kill my uncle while you're out on patrol with him."

Loki chuckled, kissed you goodbye, and left on patrol with Tony as soon as they were ready.

You finished your homework, then vanished everything upstairs except for the piece of paper Frigga had sent you. You recited the words aloud a few times, closing your eyes to not be tempted to look at the page. You vanished it upstairs as well when you had, then turned on the TV, reading a book while you waited for Loki and Tony to come home.

You were dozing on the couch when they finally got back. You stirred when Loki lifted you from the couch in loving exasperation. "You should not have waited up," he scolded. It was half-hearted at best.

You woke enough to look up at him and see that he was hurt. "You should not have gotten hurt on patrol," you scolded back, trying to match his accent.

He laughed while you reached up a glowing hand to heal the cut on his face. "You have been practicing," he replied.

"Oi, Kat, can you heal my broken arm instead of loverboy's face?" Tony grumbled from nearby.His suit was crushed over one of his arms

"Lo, set me down," you told Loki. He sighed, but did as he was told, setting you on your feet. You went over to Tony. "How'd you break your arm?" you grumbled at him as you vanished the crumpled bit of armor so you could see the wound.

"We got in a fight with Colossus. That guy's metal arm packs quite...well a punch," Tony laughed. You rolled your eyes, but placed a glowing blue hand on his arm, healing it and the other cuts and bruises he had in an instant.

"There, all fixed," you told him. You turned to Loki to look him over.

"I am fine," he tried telling you, but you caught the hitch in his voice. He was usually better at lying than that.

You rolled your eyes. “Let me see," you ordered in your healer voice. He sighed and vanished his top. His ribs were a massive bruise. "Loki," you sighed and placed both of your hands against the wound. "You try to carry me to bed when your ribs are broken? Dummy," you scolded him.

He chuckled. "It is truly not that bad," he tried to insist.

"Three of your ribs are broken," you reminded him. The healing only took a minute, “but they would’ve taken days otherwise. “Any other injuries you're hiding?" you glared up at him.

"No, lady," he replied formally.

"Good, silly Trickster," you grumbled at him, grumpy with lack of sleep and healing magic. You turned to Tony.“Uncle Tony, I made Pepper go up to bed with a sleep spell a couple hours ago. She wouldn't stop worrying and was going to throw herself into a panic attack. She's in your bed, but don't expect her to wake,"

Tony nodded, trusting your judgment when it came to healing. "Thanks for taking care of her. It's time for all of us to get to bed." You all agreed and trudged up the stairs to your beds.

"Are you sure you aren't hiding any more injuries?" you asked Loki when you reached your floor.

"You do not trust me?" he asked instead.

"I trust you to claim you're not injured so I won't use your magic to heal you," you countered.

He chuckled. "That is a fair point," he finally admitted as you walked into your suite. "Shall I disrobe so you can see that I tell the truth?" he asked with a wicked gleam in his eyes. He was expecting you to blush and give a polite refusal.

You put your hands on his hips, calling his bluff. "Yes, you shall," you told him firmly. He gaped at you, his eyes wide. You just stared him down until a flash of green magic had him down to his underwear. You had seen more before. You worked as a healer after all.

You went into healer mode now, looking him over to make sure he really wasn't more injured than he'd claimed. Of course it was entirely for medical reasons that you looked over his very aesthetically pleasing body.

Entirely.

And of course there were no kisses once you were convinced that he wasn't hiding any more injuries.

Nope nope, none at all.

*

"Your friends seemed to have survived your last attack," Balder greeted you pleasantly as the dream materialized around you that night. You had been waiting for him to attack your dreams again. You were surprised it had taken him this long actually. It had been weeks since the attack on the compound.

"Hi, Balder. Long time no see," you greeted him pleasantly, summoning real clothes to face him in instead of your pajamas. He looked taken aback that you weren't afraid of him. "And yeah, everyone survived the last attack,"

"Why are you not afraid, pet?" he asked. "You were terrified to see me last time.” He was disconcerted that you weren’t afraid.He wanted you afraid.

You shrugged, enjoying taunting him. "All you're doing is keeping me from getting a good night's sleep when I have a test tomorrow," you replied, making your voice sound annoyed an exasperated.

"You're not afraid that I will make you take out your friends again? You are no longer in isolation," he reminded you. He was trying to get an emotional response. You could play this game.

"Yes, and I no longer have that stupid power you forced on me. Our Lady Mother found the spell to remove it," you replied pleasantly, also reminding him that you were his sister by marriage, just to annoy him. "Everyone I love is safe from that particular power, so all you can do is harass me. If you're going to, just get on with it. I have an early day tomorrow," you taunted him.

He rushed you. Predictable when you got his temper on the rise.You pulled two daggers, not quite trusting your magic in the dream world, and ducked and dodged his blows. You managed to teleport out of the way when he surrounded you with clones again. You’d learned from your last dream match.

"You will join you one way or the other," he promised. You paused your dodging of the clones one second too long at his words and ended up with a knife to the gut for your mistake.

You cursed. Loudly and creatively.

The real Balder grabbed you, holding you by the throat off of the ground. "I will come for you, little pet. None of the other little humans have been able to hold the powers I have tried to gift them with," he purred while you struggled for air. "So you better wake up and let my baby brother heal that wound for you,"

With that he tossed you from the dream.

You woke, gasping for air, surrounded by ice, blood, and healing magic. Your stomach was bleeding where Balder had stabbed it in the dream. "Kat? What happened?" Loki demanded.

You was too busy gasping for air and fighting back pain to answer him. "Balder," you finally managed to get out.

"Damn, there’s so much blood," Loki said. His hands were covered as he worked on healing the wound. It only took him a couple minutes to finish the healing, but it felt like forever. Once you were healed, Loki pulled you into his arms. You wrapped your arms around his neck, holding him tightly, ignoring that both of you were covered in your blood. Again. You finally caught your breath now that you were healed. "Can you tell me what happened?" Loki asked you gently when he saw your breathing had relaxed.

"Over tea?" you asked. He chuckled, but nodded. You always got tea after nightmares.

He teleported you downstairs to the kitchen. "Kat!? What the hell?" Tony's voice came from where he was standing next to the stove. He had jumped in shock when you appeared before him. He ran over to you, fear in his eyes.

“Uncle Tony, it's stupidly early, why are you awake?" you asked. He knelt down in front of you and lifted your shirt. “Uncle Tony!" you protested, trying to shove his hands away.

"Kat, you're covered in blood!" he protested.

You looked down and saw that your pajamas were soaked in your blood. "Oh. Loki healed the wound already," you told him. "I guess we neglected to change before coming down to get tea,"

"Seriously, Kat, tell me what the fuck happened!” Tony yelled, glaring at Loki like this was his fault.He still always blamed Loki.

You sighed. "Balder attacked my dream again. He stabbed me in the dream and it came true in real life," you explained. "No one's ever down here this early. Why are you?" you asked drawing the attention back to Tony.

"I couldn’t and decided to make a cup of tea,” Tony explained.He usually didn’t drink tea, but apparently tonight had been the exception.

You laughed. "Apparently it runs in the family," you explained your laughter. Loki moved to pour the tea for all three of us. Tony had somehow decided to make enough for more than just himself.

"Did you get attacked too?" Tony asked Loki.

"No, this is all Kat's blood," Loki replied as you sat around our usual table in the dining room with your tea. Someone had replaced your table with a four person table. You still didn't know who had done it, or really remembered when it had happened. You had all just accepted the change.

There was a couple minutes of silence before the boys stared at you, silently demanding answers to why you woke bleeding. You sighed and spoke to your cup of tea, explaining the dream and everything Balder had said.

"He's been trying to implant powers into others?" Tony demanded.

You nodded your agreement “That's what it sounded like.”

"At least he has not been successful," Loki commented, looking for any bright spot.

You nodded again, but you wasn't sure that was something to really be glad about. You worried over the people he had tried to put powers into, and hoped they were alright.

"We should all get some sleep," Tony said awhile later after all the tea was gone. You nodded and vanished all of the dishes, magically clean, and put away. "That's a useful skill imp," Tony told you with a smirk. You smiled at him, glad he could still be normal. "Are you sure you're ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Uncle Tony. That isn't nearly the worst nightmare I've had," you reminded him, or thought you’d reminded him, until you remembered that Tony didn't know about your nightmares. You shrugged before he could ask. "I've had bad dreams for years. I didn't tell you cuz I didn't want you to think I was weak when I had no powers,"

"The night your parents died?" he asked too astutely.

"That particular nightmare doesn't bother me much anymore," you told him hurriedly. "I'm fine," you promised. You stood and went to give him a hug before you remembered that you were covered in blood. "I'd give you a hug, but..."

He nodded and laughed. "Get some sleep, imp," he laughed at you. You touched his shoulder and he gave you a smile.

After a quick hot shower, and some magic to clean the bed of blood, you finally got back to sleep for a couple hours until your alarm went off for school.


	50. Chapter 50

You spent the next month bouncing between your classes where Loki hung out on campus with you when you weren't actually in class, patrol, healings for the Avengers, and dance practice for the ball.It was a lot of work, but not the most you’d been through and being with Loki helped. 

"Thor and Sif want to come visit," Loki told you the day before the ball.

"Are they coming for the ball?" you asked him excitedly. It would be fun to have them there.They obviously knew how to dance and a ball was something the Asgardians could understand easily.

Loki nodded. "It will not be a problem, will it?" he didn’t want to upset Fury anymore than any of the rest of you did. You shook your head and texted Fury to let him know Thor and Sif would be attending the ball, and coming to town. "Great! Mother will be opening the portal for them in a couple minutes.” It was much easier now that you all had the portal spell to use that instead of trekking all the way to the bifrost. 

"We should get downstairs, then," you commented dryly. It had been a late start that morning and you had neglected to get out of bed so far. It was nearly noon. Oops.

You got out of the bed no matter how reluctantly and summoned clothes for yourself, a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt. You tied your hair back in a simple tail. You were getting stupidly fancily dressed up tomorrow so today was extra casual and lazy. At least that was the plan. Loki could just deal with you being lazy and casual today. He still pouted at you anyway. "C'mon, Lo. We want to be downstairs before our Lady Mother opens the portal," you reminded him.That didn’t stop you from still having to grab his hand and physically pull him from the bed.

You were both laughing as you made our way downstairs to the commonroom where the portal would open. "What are you two up to?" Tony asked at your laughing, looking up from whatever he was reading. "It was so quiet with you sleeping in," he teased.

"Thor and Sif are coming to visit," you explained. "We need to be down here to greet them,"

"Why are they coming here?" Tony asked, more curious than anything.He liked Thor, so of course he didn’t mind that he was coming to visit.

"They would like to attend the ball tomorrow," Loki replied eagerly and a bit excitedly, which was strange for when he was speaking with Tony.He was usually more wary around your uncle.

Which sparked another question."How do they even know about the ball?" you asked Loki, turning your attention up to him.

"Mother asked for an update about what was going on here, and if we'd heard anything from Balder. I mentioned that there was a ball coming up," he replied, but there was something off about his explanation.It wasn’t a lie, not really, thanks to him you’d have been able to smell if it was. But he was skipping something.

You didn't argue with him.

Yet.

But you did make a note that he was keeping something from you.It seemed so unlike him.

A minute later, the portal crackled open. You and Loki both stepped back from it to allow Thor and Sif to walk through. You greeted them with hugs as per usual though Loki gave them more formal greetings, until Thor squished him in a bone-crushing hug. "Welcome to Earth," you told Sif, who hadn’t been to Earth in a rather long while, and never to the tower.

"Thank you sister," she replied with a smile. She went over to greet Loki once he was free of Thor's hug. Thor came over and gave you another hug. You didn't get squished, since you submitted to it willingly. "Sister, we wish to go visit your parents to pay our respects," Sif told you formally once she had greeted Loki.

You nodded, expecting that.It was their way after all. "Of course." you looked over at Tony. "Do you want to come too?" you asked him. It had been awhile since either of you had been to visit.

He nodded. "Yeah, just let you go change." He was wearing lounge clothes since today was supposed to be a lazy day..

"Need me to-?" you asked, offering him a hand. You had already used magic to change into a green sundress which was much more appropriate for visiting your parents.

Tony hesitated but finally held out his hand. "Fine," he grumbled. You didn’t think he really liked anyone using magic on him, but it was a quick spell and would get you out of here sooner. With a flash of magic he was dressed and ready.

"Lo, take care of Thor, will you?"

"Of course, Sig," he replied. You rolled your eyes. He was teasing you with your superhero name as a direct result of you calling him 'Lo' in front of his family.

You turned to Sif and offered her a hand. "Will you allow me to conjure you Earth clothes?" you asked her more formally than truly necessary. You didn't know her as well as Thor and sometimes still found yourself unsure about her and about whether she'd appreciate your using magic on her behalf.

"That would be appreciated," she replied with a smile. You relaxed then, and took her hand. You summoned her a very pretty maxi dress, which was very flattering to her figure. You took a look at her left hand, which was covered in the swirls of her own soulbond with Thor. You summoned a wedding ring set for her and slipped them on the appropriate finger. It was costume jewelry, but looked real enough for this purpose. You tossed the gold ring for Thor to him. He caught it and slipped it on, remembering it from the last time he was on Earth. "What is this?" she asked, indicating the rings.

"It's a wedding ring set, the Earthen symbol that someone is married. The diamond ring is an engagement ring. Generally the man presents it to his lady when he asks her to agree to the Earthen equivalent of the soulbond. The plain bands are exchanged during the ceremony," you explained. "I gave Thor the gold ring to wear last time he was here to protect him from admiring females," you added with a grin.

She laughed at that. "I am sure the females were very entranced by his form," she added, smiling fondly at her husband.You didn’t blame her.Thor’s physique was very attractive.

"Quite entranced,"

"Shall we, ladies?" Loki asked, drawing your attention away from discussing Thor's body. You both laughed at him, but agreed that you should head out.

"You're driving, Uncle!” you announced. Tony growled at you, but it was half-hearted at best. "I need to call the florist on the way anyway," you reminded him.

"Fine, imp. I'll drive," Tony smirked and led the way out to where he was parked. You offered Sif shotgun, even though it was your to claim, but she refused, preferring to sit with Thor in the back. So you took shotgun and made a quick call to the florist. On the way, Tony, Loki, and Thor went into the liquor store to pick out something for your dad. You and Sif sat chatting in the car while you waited for them.You still weren’t of age and didn’t want to make a fuss with the store thinking Tony was buying it for you. “Thor tried to pick out an entire case of beer for dad," Tony grumbled as he drove you to the florist which caused you all to laugh.

"What!? It is a warrior's drink!" Thor protested, making you all laugh harder.

Mary had your flower order ready when you arrived at her shop. It only took you a minute to go in and collect the flowers.The order went on your tab. 

After that, you drove straight to the cemetery and to your parents’ graves. You and Tony went up first with your offering of flowers and alcohol and greeted your parents, apologizing for not visiting more often. You stepped back and Sif stepped up next, kneeling and murmuring a prayer. Loki was flipping the pages of a spellbook while she did. You looked over at him, but he was distracted with his spellbook. "Lo, you don't have to do that-“ you started, but knew he wouldn’t listen as per usual.

"I would like to. Would you assist me?" he asked. You realized there was no arguing with him. He had a reason for wanting to do this. So you nodded and took his hand so you could recite the spell together. You kissed him when it was cast, but ran to greet your parents a moment later. You couldn't help it.You got to see them corporeally again, even though they’d been dead for years.

You introduced Sif to them, and Thor properly since he could speak that day and hadn’t been able to last time.You caught them up on everything you’d been up to, while getting lots of hugs in. At one point, you noticed that all of the boys took dad off to the side. You and Sif tried to ignore whatever they were doing and mom helped by asking Sif something about Asgard to distract you both. You had a feeling mom knew what the boys were up to, but apparently you weren't allowed to know.

"Did you get the message from Frigga?" Sif asked you while the boys were distracted.

You nodded, remembering that ominous note.“Did she have any other hints or warnings to go with it?" you asked softly. You still hadn't told Loki about the note and knew that you shouldn’t.

Sif shook her head, regret in her eyes. "No hints, but she said to ask for our help if you need it when the time comes,"

"What message?" your mom asked, looking between the two of you confused.

"Loki's mom gets premonitions of the future. She saw something happen and sent me a warning," you explained a little of it. Mom didn't need all of the details of this. Not of this.

"I'm sure whatever it is, it will be ok," she answered instead of pressing the matter. You was grateful to her for not pressing it.

"I'm sure it will," you answered her with a smile and changed the subject to the next day’s ball.

You spent a long time talking with everyone, sitting on a picnic blanket by their graves. "Loki, if you don't end the spell soon, Thor’s going to have to carry you home. And me along with you," you told him. You had been feeding him power to maintain the spell and could feel the effects. Loki nodded, though he looked sad that it couldn't keep it going. "Lo, that spell is insanely draining. You know that as well as I do. Don't feel bad that we can't keep it going. We got to visit and actually see my parents," you reminded him.

"Yeah, Loki, the fact that you can give us this at all is amazing," Tony said. We all just stared at him for saying something complimentary to Loki, but Tony didn’t acknowledge it.

You and Tony both said your goodbyes, with the usual bittersweet tears and promises to mom that you’d take care of each other. Loki ended the spell and you felt the backlash of power. You couldn't stop it. All you could do was wrap your arms around Loki's slim frame and offer your support so he wouldn't collapse. Though you weren’t much better “I’m alright," he promised you. His power levels were so low. That spell was stupidly draining.

"Sure you are," you replied sarcastically.

Thor stepped toward you. "Allow me," he bid you gently. "Go say your goodbyes," you nodded and let him take Loki's weight from you.

“Thor! I can stand!" Loki protested a moment later, when he was thrown over Thor's shoulder. You laughed and made your way over to Tony so you could say your last goodbyes to your parents.

"Thank you for coming with us," you told Sif as we walked back to the car.

"Thank you for allowing me to come pay my respects," she replied formally, pausing her laughing at Loki, who had fallen asleep on Thor’s shoulder while arguing for his brother to put him down.He was adorable when he was so stubborn and pouty.


	51. Chapter 51

You spent the next day showing Sif, and to a lesser extent Thor, around the city. Thor was acquainted with Earth from living with the team.You did the touristy things and also made a point of taking her to the movie theater so Sif would get the experience. She was delighted to see the Avengers movie that was currently in theaters and was excited when she realized that you and Loki were actually in the movie. You showed her Superhero Musical when you got home that afternoon to make sure she saw the original before she went home. She had seen the play version with you on Asgard, but she was excited to see the original.

Most of the supers had to spend a long time getting ready that afternoon and evening. The four of you didn't and you got to enjoy a nice quiet afternoon instead. It was way more fun watching everyone else get ready frantically. About a half-hour before you had to leave for the ball, you and Loki used magic to create outfits for your four-some. Tony growled at you later when he found out that you had used magic to get ready instead of dressing the human way.

Especially when you hadn’t used magic for him as well.

You didn’t know how Loki managed to convince you to wear a Asgardian style dress for the event, especially when Sif was wearing an Earthen style ball gown and the boys were in tuxedos. It was only because it was your favorite gown from Asgard that he even managed to convince you to wear it. It was the dress that you wore for the soulbond ceremony, a dark blue gown with golden sparkles throughout, looking like stars that were falling into the border of golden sparkles at the bottom of the dress. It was gorgeous, extremely flattering, and fit you like a glove. Your mask for the ball was the same dark blue, with a golden border. It was fastened with magic, so you didn't have to worry about it not fitting, falling off, or messing up your hair. Loki also did some tricky little piece of magic so the soulbond marks on both of our arms glowed lightly.

"What are you up to, Trickster?" you asked him. He'd done one too many little odd things over the past couple of days and it was suspicious.

"I just wish for my lady to look her best for the ball," he protested a little too innocently.

You were distracted from questioning him further by your helpless uncle coming into the commonroom demanding that you tie his tie for him. You sighed, stepped up onto a box made of air so you could reach properly, and tied your silly uncle’s bowtie for him. Soon there was a line of helpless boys behind him, begging for your help. You rolled your eyes, but helped them with their ties and made sure they were presentable.

Fury himself did the final inspections of everyone before he led the procession of supers.He wouldn’t let anyone appear not their best, or with the masks not perfectly in place that night. The ball was being held in a gorgeous ballroom across the street from the tower. The ballroom had been built here years ago expressly for this purpose. Part of the tradition of the ball was the procession of all of the supers across the street, lead by Fury. The press took pictures and the procession was broadcast live on TV, the street closed off for the evening.

Your entire focus in the procession was not falling on your face on live TV.

Fury made a speech once you were all inside, welcoming everyone to the ball and thanking them all for their generosity. All of the proceeds went to various charities around the city. There was also a silent auction for the charities as well.

The ballroom was gorgeous and exquisite. You grinned when you saw it. It was just how you remembered it being every year.

You saw a familiar wig of black hair in the crowd and dragged Loki over to see Tom. "Nice to see you here," you greeted him. Names were not supposed to be used during the ball. It was tradition, though your superhero aliases were allowed to be spoken.

"It is a pleasure to see you as well, Lady Sigyn, Loki," he replied. "You look lovely tonight, Lady Sigyn," he added with a smile.

"Yes, my darling does look ravishing tonight," Loki added, not possessively, but more that he wanted to make sure you knew you were beautiful.

"Thank you both," you accepted the compliment tonight, though you usually didn't. Tonight was different. You had made a special effort tonight.

You left Tom shortly, you had other socializing to do. There was a little girl who was here with her parents who came up to you to tell you you were her hero. You chatted with her for a little while and gave her an autograph.

"Would you like to dance?" Loki asked as the musicians started to play the preamble, the announcement that the dances were about to begin.

You nodded your agreement quickly. "Of course," you replied. He offered you his hand in formal Asgardian escort. You placed your hand on his and you were among the first out on the dance floor.

You had so much fun dancing and socializing the night away. Everyone was so beautiful in their formal wear. "May I have this dance, Sig?" a voice asked between dances. You looked to see who it was. It was Tony. While it usually would have been embarrassing to dance with your family at a ball, it was tradition. Your parents had made us dance at least one dance together every year you had both attended the ball.

"Of course, Iron Man," you replied. "If you'll kindly excuse me," you said to Loki.

"Of course, my lady," he replied. You took Tony's hand and let him lead you onto the dance floor. Loki and Pepper were right behind you. Tony was shocked that Loki had asked Pepper to be his partner for this dance. So were some of the people in the crowd. Loki was usually pretty stubborn about staying close to you.Loki's grace made up for any Pepper lacked, though, and their dance ended up being one of the popular video clips from the evening. You and Tony danced, both reminiscing about dances in the past that your parents had made you do. You briefly thought you saw a glimpse of mom in the crowd, in the fancy red dress she always wore to the ball, but that was impossible.

You also danced with Tom at one point during the evening, as well as a few others who asked for a dance. Thor asked for one as well. "Are you two having fun?" you asked while you twirled around the floor with him.You hadn't seen much of him or Sif during the ball.

"Very much so, little sister," he replied with a grin. Loki was dancing that dance with Sif.

Shortly before midnight Fury stood back up on the platform that held the microphone. "It is now time for the super's waltz. I invite every super in attendance tonight out on the dance floor," he announced.

It was time.The moment you had been waiting for was finally there.

The supers all found your partners and made your way onto the dance floor. You had warned Thor and Sif, and told them that for tonight's purpose they were supers, so they joined us on the dance floor. It wasn’t as if they didn’t know how to dance a waltz.You all took your positions in a giant circle around the edge of the dance floor. You grinned up at Loki. You had been waiting for years to be able to do this and could hardly believe that you were finally able to after all these years. There were flashes of light from the cameras in the crowd and the news crews had video trained on all of your. This was one of the highlights, if not _the_ highlight of the evening.

Soon the music began and after a few beats, the dancing began. It started with the basic steps, a simple pattern that the rookies would continue. Those of you with more experience soon broke off after the first full round of the circle, twirling in a more graceful complicated pattern in a smaller circle a couple paces inside the original circle. After one circuit around the dance floor of the more complicated pattern, the most experienced dancers broke off again into one final smaller circle of an extremely complicated, fancy twirling pattern in the middle of the floor.

/Ready?/ Loki asked after the second circuit of the new pattern. You took a breath and nodded. The two of you twirled alone to the exact middle of the floor for one final pattern of the dance. The crowd gasped. The other three patterns were common and happened every year. This one was new and you were the only ones practiced enough to pull it off. The crowd knew the dance, and knew that this pattern was new.

There was never anything new during the super’s waltz.

You had been practicing for a month, though, and were both excellent dancers to begin with, so you survived the dance, twirling with grace and a smoothness that the crowd envied. You knew that this would be the clip that was shown all over the news and TV for weeks from that night.

You were beaming in joy and excitement for the dance and sharing this fun with Loki.

The music came abruptly to an end. All of the dancers paused at the same moment. They were expecting it. You hadn't been, hadn’t known, but managed to avoid losing your footing. All of the couples turned to face you and Loki, drawing the attention of everyone in the hall as they did.

You gasped when Loki dropped gracefully to one knee in front of you and pulled a ring box from his pocket, opening it to display a gorgeous diamond ring in a silver setting. The room was dead silent. It seemed that everyone had been expecting this but you.

"I never thought in all of my life that I would ever find the person who I was meant to be with, would ever find my soul mate. I thought I would never find true happiness; that I was doomed to spend all of my days as the youngest prince, worthless in my Father's eyes. You have proven me wrong on all of those points time and time again. You have lit up my life, my world, my entire being, since the moment I first met you. You have made me happier in the time that I have known you than I have ever felt in my entire life, and it is my heart's truest desire to spend every single moment of the rest of my life giving you the same happiness. With that in mind, I have one question for you, my darling: Y/N Kathryn Sigyn Stark, will you do me the honor of being my wife?" Loki asked, loudly enough to have been heard by the entire room, even if the room hadn't been so silent. You saw the moment of fear in his eyes as well as the excitement and joy. There was still a part of him that thought you might reject him, that you might say no.

You felt the excitement like a spark, your heart racing in joy. "Yes!" you managed to get out through your feelings of joy and excitement. Loki vanished the promise ring on your finger and replaced it with the engagement ring in one movement as he stood to kiss you. You wrapped your arms around his neck, letting him lift you onto your toes as you kissed him deeply. The crowd roared in cheers and applause as you kissed.

You had to break the kiss too soon so you could get congratulations from your friends and family. "Congratulation, imp," Tony grinned at you knowingly.Of course he’d been in on this.

"You knew!" you accused him when you saw his grin. He nodded and pulled you into a hug.

"We all knew. Loverboy asked for your dad's permission yesterday when we were at the cemetery," Tony told you while he was hugging you.Tony didn’t hug often, but he made an exception for you

"That's what he was up to," you grumbled. You had thought he’d been up to something.

Tony laughed. "That's also why Thor, Sif, and Tom are here," Tony explained. "The hardest part was keeping the secret from you," Tony let you go and pushed you toward the next will wisher, who happened to be Thor. Thor swung you up into a bone-crushing hug. As he swung you around, you caught a glimpse of your parents in the crowd. They were hazy, not quite real, but they were there. They both smiled and waved before they vanished. They had seen your moment.They had approved and been here for you in the only way they could.

"Congratulations, sister!" Thor boomed, drawing you back to the present.. you laughed, knowing that he wished you well so wholeheartedly, even though he couldn't possibly know exactly what had just happened.

"Thanks, Thor,” you replied, laughing at his enthusiasm. It took forever to get through all of the well wishers, but you finally got through them all and made your escape back to the tower before anyone else found you.

"Did you enjoy the ball?" Loki asked casually as you walked back across the street to the compound. He slipped off his tuxedo jacket and helped you put it on. You smiled at him; he was always the gentleman. The TV crews were still following us, too, so that would be on the air at some point.

"It was perfect," you replied, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"I am glad to hear it,"

"And your surprise was perfect too. The ring is lovely," you added now that you could properly admire the gorgeous ring he had picked out. "When did you find it?" you asked. He was rarely separated from you.

"The night Tony and I went on patrol together. Your uncle pretended not to be pleased to go ring shopping with me. The store was quite amused to have two supers ring shopping in costume. I am glad they kept their word and did not tell anyone of my purchase. I did wish to surprise you,"

"You succeeded. It was most impressive,"

"It was a close thing. You are too curious for your own good, and can see through my...misdirections... better than almost anyone else," he laughed. He couldn’t lie to you and you both knew it.

"By misdirections, you mean lies," you returned the laughter.

"Lies? My lady wounds me!" he exclaimed, pretending to be offended.

"You are a creature made entirely of silliness," you laughed at him and his mock offense.

"Chaos and mischief, love," he corrected automatically as we walked inside the tower. You kicked off your heels the second you were safely away from the prying eyes of the press and vanished them, so you didn't have to carry them upstairs. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, the ring is enchanted,"

"Naturally," you replied dryly, earning yourself a chuckle. "What did you do to it?" you looked over the ring and kept getting too distracted by how pretty it was to see the enchantment.

"Nothing fancy. I just made it so it cannot be forcibly removed, or broken. We do not exactly have the safest line of work and I knew you would hate for something to happen to it,"

"Thank you,"

"You are welcome, darling," he lifted your left hand and kissed your ring.

"I love you,"

"I love you too,"

"I should hope so. You did just ask you to marry you in front of our friends and family, and on live television," you replied with a grin.

"Did you expect me to do it in a small manner?" he asked with a grin.

"Not at all, Trickster,"


	52. Chapter 52

You woke Loki way earlier than he wanted to get up the next morning. In fact, it was only about two hours after you had finally gone to bed the night before. “Sig~” he growled, not bothering to open his eyes. You laughed as you got out of the bed, to better wrestle him out of the bed to join you. “We just went to bed,”

“C’mon, Lo, pajama party downstairs. It’s tradition,” you told him, grabbing his hand to drag him out of the bed.

“No, Sig,” he grumbled, still not bothering to open his eyes. You ripped the blankets off of him. He ignored you. Silly frost giant was unaffected by the cold.

“If you don’t get up on your own, I’m going to carry you,” you threatened.

“You cannot,” he replied matter of factly. “Come back to bed,” he insisted, curling up to better go back to sleep.

You shrugged, unperturbed. “You’re choice,” you teased. He cracked open an eye at that, but otherwise didn’t move. He was calling your bluff. You stepped forward back toward the bed. He shut his eye, thinking you were wisely coming back to bed. He was wrong. You grabbed the arm and leg of one side of his body and hefted his weight over your shoulders in a fireman’s carry. He yelped when you lifted him from the bed. He wasn’t expecting you to succeed. You laughed, checked your balance, and proceeded to walk from the suite.

“You have made your point. Put me down!” Loki protested from where he was carefully _not_ squirming as he didn’t want to be dropped. 

“Stop squirming,” you told him firmly as you stomped across the hall to the suite that was actually his. It was hard to walk gracefully when you had a full grown man draped across your shoulders. “You made your choice,” you reminded him pleasantly as you pounded on Loki’s suite door with your free hand. Thor and Sif were staying there while they were in town.Thor used to have his own suite, but he’d been living on Asgard exclusively for awhile when he had to take on his proper responsibilities.

Thor finally came to the door to answer your pounding. “Morning Thor,” you greeted him brightly, while he gaped at the scene of you with a Loki draped over your shoulders. “We’re all meeting downstairs in five minutes for a pajama party. It’s tradition the morning after the ball,” you explained. Thor looked pointedly at the pouting Loki stuck on your shoulders. “He had a choice of getting up or being carried,” you explained, grinning up at Thor, who usually used that tactic on Loki. Thor just laughed.

“Thor! She refuses to put me down. Help me, brother!” Loki whined, sounding pitiful and plaintive.

“Little Brother, I, for one, am smart enough not to argue with your darling soulbond. She is frightening when angered,” Thor replied pleasantly, with a small bow to you. You gave him a head bow in return, accepting his compliment. “Would you like assistance, sister dear? I know he can be quite troublesome,”

“I’ve got him. He’s behaving for me. Thanks for the offer though,” you replied with a grin.

“You are not carrying me down the stairs! You will break both of our necks!” Loki protested.

“Of course I’m not,” you replied sweetly. You waved to Thor and teleported yourself and Loki downstairs to the commonroom.

There were roars of laughter and cheers of “Sigyn!” from the supers already gathered. You very carefully set Loki on your couch. He huffed indignantly and it took quite a few kisses to thaw him out again.

“How did you do that?” he asked grumpily. He finally moved over on the couch so you could join him. You poured both of you cups of coffee from one of the many pots spread around the room and got you each a plate of coffee cakes and cinnamon rolls. These were also spread around the room. Helene was well prepared for you to all be up early for this.

“What? I’ve carried you before,” you protested. Just because you were small didn’t mean you were a weakling. Loki just gave you a look. “Oh, right, you were unconscious for that event. It was in Asgard, right after you escaped from Balder. You had teleported to me and then passed out in the snow because of that stupid power he put in me,” you explained. He nodded. “You had also neglected to tell me that because you’re Jotun you wouldn’t freeze in the cold, so I had to carry you to a cave and try to make a fire,” you added.

“I did wonder, though we were a bit distracted at the time. So why are we having a pajama party at...5am?” he asked, checking the clock on the wall. He was less grumpy now that he’d gotten some coffee in him.

You gestured to the TVs which were all on the same station. “Channel 9 does this for us every year. Since we’re all at the ball, we can’t watch the footage, so they reair it at 5am the morning after so we can watch it. We’ve made a pajama party out of it,” Thor and Sif joined you a minute later. Sif was half-asleep, cradled in Thor’s arms. You smiled and moved closer to Loki on the couch so they had plenty of room. You also made sure they had coffee and breakfast foods and explained the party again for their benefit.

“It’s starting!” Nat called. A hush fell over the crowd while you all watched the footage from the night before.

“Nat, your dress was so pretty!” you called back from where you were curling up more comfortably with Loki.

“Yeah it was!” Nat agreed. “Though you and loverboy stole the show,” she grumbled, causing everyone to laugh.

The news crew announced every super as they appeared in the procession, though admittedly you and Loki got more air time than most of the others. Tony and Pepper got a lot of airtime too. The rest of the events were pretty standard, showing off the supers dancing, various celebrities in the crowd, all of the costumes and pretty masks.

Finally came the event you were all waiting to watch: the waltz. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the screen. You had all worked our asses off all of the previous month to get the dance just right. It was just as gorgeous as you had imagined. Everyone’s hard work was obvious. The dance was a lot longer than it had felt while you were performing it. The camera crew focused on the second group as they split off, and then the third when they split off, and finally on yourself and Loki when you did the new set of moves, and finally the proposal.

After your pajama party, you had to send Thor and Sif back home. They had only come to visit for the ball. Loki sent gave them an illusion to take with them so they could show the proposal to Frigga. She would be glad to see it. “The time is coming,” Sif reminded you in a whisper when she hugged you goodbye. “Do not forget we are available to help and do not be afraid to call on us for aid.” All you could do was nod and wish them a safe journey home.

*

You spent the next couple of weeks studying for your finals. It was cheating to let Loki read your textbooks too, since he had a photographic memory and anything he learned you not only learned too, but had access to later through the soulbond. You didn’t care, as long as you knew the information, it didn’t matter how you learned it.

You also spent all day the Saturday before exams cleaning out your apartment. You were giving it up at the end of the semester. You were never there anymore since Loki had come back. There was no reason to keep it, especially when you teleported to class most of the time anyway. After everything was sorted, you used magic and a fancy spell to put everything in storage or back in your room. The landlord at least couldn’t complain about the apartment, since it was cleaner now than it had been when you moved in. Magic was a great thing.

*

You greeted Loki with a kiss after your last exam. He was holding takeout bags of Chinese. He had come to like the cute little Chinese restaurant on campus and agreed to meet you in the student center after your exam. You were standing in the middle of the most crowded building on campus, kissing like the silly college kids you appeared to be, and ignoring the kids taking pictures of you when they recognized one or both of you.

Then suddenly Loki shoved you hard away from him, his eyes wide in shock.

You stumbled backwards and fell hard on your ass, unprepared to be shoved away from him. That was so unlike him. “Lo?” you started asking, looking up to see what was going on.

The Chinese food bags crashed to the floor as screams erupted around you.

“Loki! No!” you screamed when the image in front of you finally made sense, finally cleared in your mind. Loki was falling, a spear through his chest, lightning coursing through his body, though you didn’t know from where. He had shoved you away to save you from being impaled too. The shield you had put into his watch was glowing around him, but it hadn’t helped.

There was only one reason for it not to have helped.Loki’s magic, most of your magic, didn’t work against Balder.

You couldn’t focus on Balder right then though.

You ran to Loki, catching him before he hit the ground. Your shield recognized you and let you in without hesitation. “Loki? Loki! Stay with me!” you ordered him. You felt the drain of your own power as the soulbond fought to save him. You pulled the spear from his chest, trying not to think about the whimper of pain that was all he could manage. “I’m sorry, love,” you whispered as you placed one glowing blue hand to the wound. You had to get him stable. Then you had to do your job. You yanked your phone out of your pocket. “Call backup!” you snapped at it. You usually hated phone voice commands, but this one was useful and all of the team’s phones were programmed to recognize the command.

“I told you you would come for you, pet,” Balder’s voice boomed, seeming to come from all around you.

Shit.

You were out of time.

You set a healing spell on Loki, forcing it to keep working as you broke physical contact and turned to face where Balder’s voice had come from.

You were grateful that the civilians had run, and pissed at Balder for attacking you when you would be least prepared for it. You should have been safe here. It was an unspoken rule, even among the villains. They didn’t attack schools. No matter how evil they were, no matter what, they left the kids, even the college kids, out of their battles. Balder had ignored those rules completely by attacking you there.

Loki was still unconscious at your feet, your healing magic slowly knitting him back together. You were alone in this until backup arrived. “I’m sorry, Lo,” you whispered. He would hate you for this. You knelt again, murmuring a spell he had used on you once. A portal would appear below him, that would drop him in the infirmary.

Before you had finished, before the portal had opened, Balder attacked.

You threw up shields of fire around you. Normal shields wouldn’t work against Balder. Loki’s magic, and any magic you had gained from Loki through the soulbond wouldn’t work against Balder. You could only use your own natural abilities. 

Balder hesitated at the fire shield. “You need some new tricks, pet,” he sneered, reaching a hand through the flames. You only barely ducked in time to not get electrocuted by his touch. His magic and powers still worked perfectly fine against you. It was only Loki who was immune. You threw a dagger at Balder and he backed away from your shield. You threw more healing magic into Loki, watching as the wound closed. You didn’t care how fast it was draining your power. You needed help to defeat Balder.

/Wake up, Loki!/ you shouted into his mind. He was finally stirring. Thank all the gods.

You spent too long in one spot while you were healing Loki. You had trusted in the fire to protect you. You should have known better.Balder had reached through it already.Balder reached through and grabbed you, ignoring the pain the flames must have caused him, holding you by the throat off of the ground. You pulled a dagger and stabbed him with it out of reflex. He howled in rage and pain and threw you across the room into a wall. Your vision swam and you cried out in pain as the blow broke through all of your shielding. You concentration on the flame shield around Loki had been shot when your head hit the wall and the shield failed. 

You teleported back over to Loki, though the effort made you dizzy and almost sick. You’d hit your head sickeningly hard and you knew it was bad.Your head was bleeding, bad, the blood dripping to the floor, your vision was doubled and blurry. This was bad.

There were clones of Balder everywhere.

You didn’t know if they were clones or if your vision was so messed up from your head wound.

You had three powers of your own and you used all of them then. None of them seemed to do any good, despite that you were the strongest super in existence. Most of your powers just didn’t work against Balder since you’d gotten them from Loki.

“Give up, pet. You will kill yourself, and my brother if you do not,” one of the Balders said reasonably.

You threw a dagger and fireball at it.

You nearly cried in relief when your reinforcements came. You crouched over Loki, defending him with fire and daggers while your head and the room spun.

You didn’t see the lightning from one of the clones until it was too late. It went straight through your chest, throwing you into Tony. You gasped, trying to breathe as the energy vibrated its way through you. Tony set you gently on the ground. “Stay down, Sig,” he ordered, turning to the fight when your life wasn’t in immediate danger.Supers were stronger than normal humans, so even though you were bleeding from a massive head wound and had just gotten shocked with lightning, you were down but not in immediate mortal danger. 

You obeyed Tony for about thirty seconds while you fought to breathe again. You couldn’t move until the energy faded, until your heart decided to work properly again, until you could at least breathe.

Those thirty seconds were too long.

You struggled back to your feet, fighting for every movement.

“Loki! NO!” you screamed, stumbling a few steps forward, as you threw more fireballs. One of Balder’s clones had gotten to Loki. You realized as all of the other clones vanished that this was the real one.Loki was struggling to his feet, a dagger drawn. Balder grabbed him by the throat, holding him off of the ground.

“You will join me soon, little pet, if you want your soulbond back in one piece, anyway,” Balder told you softly, almost kindly. Before any of you could do anything, he teleported away, still holding your Loki.

In an instant they were gone.

“LOKI! NO!” you wailed, trying to summon the strength to teleport after them. Tony grabbed you, holding you in place.

“Kat, no, we need a plan of attack,”

“I have a plan. Attack,” you snarled at him, throwing his own words from years ago back at him.. “He took Loki!”

“I know. And we will get him back, I promise you. But you’re in no shape to fight. Loki will be fine while you heal and we regroup. We need a plan to go after Balder He will decimate us if we just go running off half-cocked,” Tony was too reasonable for once. He had to be.He knew you were unreasonable when love was involved.He was the same way and he loved you too much to let you go.You knew he was right, but it felt like giving up, not to run off to save Loki. Before you could argue again, Tony knocked the daggers from your hands and swept you up into his arms. You didn’t have the strength to fight him. You were too dizzy from the head wound to even try. “The kids will clean up here. C’mon imp, off to the infirmary, then we can go save Loki,”

You’d failed. 

You’d failed Loki. Failed your soulbond, your fiancé, your love.

You had to get him back.

The world swam around you and went black.Saving Loki would have to wait until you were capable.

Hopefully it would be soon enough.


	53. Chapter 53

“You have not come for your soulbond yet,” Balder’s voice was accusing when the dream materialized around you. You wondered briefly if this was really a dream since you were currently unconscious and not asleep, but that was a moot point at the moment.Still, your brain decided to focus on stupid things like that when you were in a dream realm you didn’t want to be in.

You, Balder, Loki, were in the throne room that Balder had used in previous terrible dreams. At least you were wearing real clothes this time, the same outfit you had worn to school that day. You really hated appearing in front of Balder in your pajamas, which is what usually happened.

Loki was in chains, of course.

You wanted to kill Balder for that, but that thought wouldn’t help anything at the moment, since this was a dream.

You pointed to your still very much bleeding head wound. It shouldn’t still be bleeding in a dream, but your subconscious was apparently working overtime today. “You threw me into a wall,” you reminded him grumpily, “and I’m human. I can’t just walk that off,”

“You had best learn how if you wish to save your soulbond from pain,” Balder replied too pleasantly. His tone made you want to punch him.“Ditch your Avengers and come find me. She should come rescue you soon, right little brother?” Balder laughed at your Loki, who was obviously injured and in pain.You bit back a reaction, fearing that this was another trick. He had managed to trick you once to make you think that Loki was in danger in a dream.

Loki caught your eye, giving you a pleading broken expression. “Hurry, kitten, do what he says, come quickly.”

You bristled at the word ‘kitten’, thinking this was a trick; Loki knew how much you hated when anyone but your dad tried to call you that.It reminded you too much of your dad, who was no longer with you.But you saw the glint in his eyes and knew it wasn’t a trick. It wasn’t a trick for you anyway. It was a message. You just had to translate it. He wasn’t in immediate danger. He wanted you to stay where you were, heal, coming up with a plan and backup. He wanted you to not be stupid. You nodded and gave him a reassuring look. You understood, you’d translated his message.“I’m coming, Elsa, the second I wake up,” you replied. Loki hated that the supers teased him by calling him ‘Elsa’. You could feel the soulbond marks pulse on your arm. He had caught your meaning too.

“Hmm... kitten. I like that term. I may have to steal it for you,” Balder laughed, taunting you. He really needed to die.“Come quickly, little pet. Your soulbond is depending on you. He does make the best damsel in distress,”

The dream faded away with Balder’s laughter

“I hate working on healers,” you heard Julia’s grumbles as you started to wake. “Stop breaking through the healing sleep,” she snarled at you. “If you don’t, I will make sure you are unconscious until next week,”

“I’ll stab you if you try,” you snarled back, finally getting your eyes to open when you had broken all the way through her healing sleep spells.

“So you’ve told you the last three times you broke the spells,” she grumbled at you.You didn’t remember any of that, but it sounded like you, so you didn’t question it. You tried to move your hands and found them held to the bed with medical restraints. You glared at them and used telekinesis to untie them. “At least you’re awake enough to do that this time,” she said dryly.

“I’m awake,” you told her firmly. You were awake and pissed as hell.You reached up to feel the wound on your head. It was bandaged, so it wasn’t healed all the way.Fuck.

“You’re still hurt. The wound is closed, but you are by no means healed,” Julia told you, trying to be firm and reasonable.

You were in no mood to be reasonable.

You swung your legs out of the bed. “Too bad. Balder has Loki. I’m going to get him back,” you told her, raising shields around yourself before she decided she needed to stop me. You felt your senses out for Tony. He and Pepper were nearby. You stormed out of the infirmary and went to find them.

“Kat? What are you doing out of bed?” Tony demanded when you found him.

“Going to go save my fiance,” you replied grumpily. What did he think you were doing?Going to go frolic in a meadow somewhere? “Do we know anything new?” you demanded. Manners had gone out the window when your Loki was taken from you.

Tony shook his head. “There’s been no word from Balder. Seriously, you’re not even fully healed. Get your ass back to bed,” Tony told you firmly.

You ignored him and used magic to change into your armor. “Tony. Balder is going to keep torturing Loki if you don’t go after them soon,” you replied just as firmly.You knew that Loki wasn’t too bad off yet, but you’d only bought him so much time.

“Do you even know where he is?” Tony asked, trying that route.

You focused on the soulbond and pointed. “That way,” you pointed directly at a wall.You could follow him slowly by the soulbond if that’s what it took, following the pull toward your Loki.

“Kat... maybe you should find a better method of locating them,” Tony suggested. He was trying to be reasonable. “That way we don’t have to walk the entire way across town to find him.”

“Who said anything about walking? We’re driving.” See?You could be reasonable.

“No. We’re coming up with a plan,”

“I have a plan. Go to Loki. Kick Balder’s ass. Return home with Loki.” you snarled at him, temper making sparks of flames around you.That wasn’t good.

“You’re not going anywhere, soldier,” Fury growled. He had snuck up on you. That wasn’t difficult when you were yelling at each other in the middle of the hallway.

You whirled on him. “I have to go save Loki!” you snarled at him.Why was no one understanding that point?

“You would both die if you went like this,” he gestured at you.You growled softly. “Is he in immediate danger? You can feel that from the marks on your arm, can’t you?” he asked, reasonably.

You glared.Why were they all being so fucking reasonable when you had to go to Loki.

“No, not immediate,” you finally admitted through gritted teeth. “He and Balder visited me while I was unconscious. I bought us a little time,”

“Good, then let’s come up with a proper plan. Kat, you get your ass back to the infirmary. You’ll do loverboy no good if you pass out in the middle of the battle,” Fury told you firmly.

“I’m fine!” you protested. You needed to hurry before the time you had bought was over. You felt a prick in your neck. You reached a hand up and pulled a dart out of your neck. You just looked at it confused. Tony and Fury hadn’t moved. Where had a dart come fr-?

The next thing you knew, you were back in the infirmary, but completely healed this time. You shot up in bed, fighting the hazy foggy brain of a drugged sleep. Whoever had drugged you was dead when you found out who they were.

Pepper was next to your bed. “How long has it been?” you asked her, trying to be nice. She was too formidable and none of this was her fault. Fury had chosen your babysitter well.

“You’ve been drugged for a day,” she replied cautiously.

“Shit,” you grumbled. Who knew how much pain Loki was in when you were gone for that long.You felt the power draining through the soulbond at an alarming rate.You needed to get to him. Now. You tried to search for him, tried to reach for his location, but you couldn’t feel it. You looked at your wrist, expecting to see one of Tonh’s bangles, but there wasn’t any.

You dove deeper into your power, looking for your lost soulbond.

You couldn’t get a read on his location.

/You lied to me, little pet. You lied to Loki, telling him you were coming. You didn’t come when you were bid. I can’t risk both you and my little brother being back to full strength. You might to something stupid like fight against me. I have hidden your soulbond under so many shields you will never find us. I will call you to give yourself up to save him when I am sure he cannot help you. Wait for my word, kitten/ Balder’s words came unbidden to your mind.

“NO!” you screamed, not caring that you were scaring all of the nice people in the infirmary.You didn’t give a single shit about anyone at that moment, but your captured Loki.

/Loki! Loki where are you!/ you called through your telepathy, called down the soulbond, called in every possible way you could think of reaching him. He was out of your reach.

You had lost your chance to find him, to get to him.

You wouldn’t, couldn’t give up.

Not on Loki.

Never on Loki.

/Hold on, love. I will come and save you/ you sent the thought out, praying that he would hear it and know you hadn’t abandoned him.

You would never abandon him, no matter what happened.


	54. Chapter 54

You spent the next two days straight researching with Fury and Tony, trying to find any sign of where Balder could be hiding Loki. Your power was draining through the soulbond at an alarming rate and you were getting desperate to find Loki before it was too late. You ate everything in sight, trying to keep your strength up and fuel yourself so you could fuel the soulbond. You apologized to Loki one day after you brewed coffee with one of Tony’s energy drinks instead of water and dumped in crushed up caffeine pills in and sugar. You felt your heart skip about three beats when you downed that ungodly mixture and power flared in the soulbond. Fury sent a memo out that no one else on the team was to ever attempt to make monster-coffee. You drank three more pots of the stuff before the ordeal was over.

You spent free moments on top of the tower, casting out your magic and senses for Loki, or signs of Balder’s shields.

You had no luck.

You expected to hear from Balder. He wanted you to come to him. Why hadn’t he contacted you? You couldn’t go save Loki, if you didn’t know where he was.

The morning of the fifth day, you were desperate for answers and made a desperate move. “Tony, don’t stop me,” you told him firmly. You were in the commonroom right after breakfast. “I’ll explain what I’m doing after. I promise that I know what I’m doing,” you told him. He growled, but nodded. It was never good when you told him you’d explain something after you did it. You pulled a dagger, apologized silently to Frigga, and sliced open your right palm.

“Kat!” Tony exclaimed, protesting your blood being spilled. 

You ignored him and placed your bleeding palm against the soulbond marks on your left arm. You felt the power flare and followed the pulse to Loki’s mind at the other end. /Loki!/ you called when your mind finally found his. You got a vague idea of where he was.

/Kat?/ he asked. His voice sounded so weak and pained.

/I’m here. We’re trying to find you. I swear we’re coming. Just hang on/ you told him urgently. He couldn’t give up.If he gave up you would both die./Can you tell me anything about where you are?/

/I have seen nothing besides the room I am chained in/ he replied, so tired, so weak. You could hear how bruised and broken he was. What the hell had Balder done to him?Didn’t he care at all about his brother?You poured strength and healing magic down the soulbond.

/No matter. We’ll find you/

/No. Do not come here. He will kill you, or worse/

/He can’t kill me without killing you/ you reminded him. /We’re coming for you, my love. I will not abandon you. We are in this together. Forever/

/No, darling. He will kill you to keep you from helping me. He doesn’t care about keeping either of us alive.No, do not interrupt, my darling/ he said urgently before you could do just that.You had to interrupt, to get him down off the ledge./I am just sorry that I could not marry you. I am glad that I got to talk to you one last time/

/No! Don’t give up. Don’t you fucking _dare_ give up. I will find you and I _will_ get you out of there. We’re coming for you, I swear to you, Loki. I swear on the soulbond, on everything I am that I _am_ coming for you. Please, just hold on a little longer/

/I love you too/ was all he answered.

You felt the destructive force of power, the backlash as you were thrown back into your own body. you howled in pain as you felt your soul literally ripped in two. Tony was holding you while you screamed and cried, while your heart, your soul, your very being was ripped in half. You wailed in pain as half of you was lost, torn away.

“Kat? Kat?! What the hell just happened?” Tony demanded when you finally got your breathing under control, when you could finally stop screaming long enough for him to get through to you. You looked down at the soulbond marks on your arm. They were gray under the smear of your blood. Tony wrapped a bandage around your sluggishly bleeding palm and cleaned the blood from your other arm.

Loki had done it.

He had broken the soulbond.

“He broke the soulbond. Balder is killing him. He broke the soulbond to save my life,” you told Tony with no emotion in your voice. You didn’t have any emotions left to give.

“Kat…” Tony said softly, pulling you into his arms, trying to comfort you.

You shoved him away, hard, focusing on what you had to do. You had to save Loki. You had to save him now.You were out of time.“I know where he is,” you told Tony as you stood. Pepper had joined you. Good. You needed all of the help you could get. “There’s a lot to do and not enough time. You have a choice, Uncle Tony. Either you help me now, or you get the fuck out of my way. I will save him whether you help me or not,” you told him firmly, plans forming in an instant. You were out of time, so you had to go with whatever half-assed plan you could come up with.

You felt for your magic, finding that you still had the magic Loki had given you when the soulbond was forged. You would figure out why you still had that power later, after you had saved Loki. For now, you were just grateful. You would need every ounce of it now. You used magic to don your armor, combat boots, extra weapons and all.

“What do you need?” Tony asked immediately. He wasn’t going to stand in your way.

You gave him a small smile. “I need blood, and for you never to tell Frigga what I am about to do. Or about what I did when I cut my palm,” you added. Frigga was never to know that you and Loki knew some blood magic, or worse that you used it. “If you don’t want to, fine, I’ll do it myself, consequences be damned.” You didn’t care if you drained every single drop of power you had. You were saving Loki’s life.

Tony still hesitated. “I’ll do it,” Pepper volunteered, offering you her hand. You could have kissed her for her kindness.

“Thank you,” you told her, relieved beyond measure. You pulled a dagger and sliced her palm quickly. You waited for a moment, gathering her blood on your dagger, then flung the blood off toward the far wall while saying the final words of the portal spell, forcing it open with only a touch of your power. Pepper’s blood was powering it. “Pepper stay here. Uncle Tony, with me,” you ordered, not being exactly polite to your uncle.You could apologize to him later. You summoned your tiara from Asgard, placed it carefully, grabbed Tony’s hand and led him to the portal.

There wasn’t enough time.

The portal opened in front of the throne room in Asgard. You dropped Tony’s hand the moment you were through the portal and proceeded to make your way into the throne room, leaving the portal open. You prayed to all of the gods that the people you needed were in the throne room where you needed them.You didn’t have time to hunt them down. Frigga had seen at least some of this, you knew. She had warned you the time was coming for you to need the soulbond ceremony words.

The time was now.

You strode confidently into the throne room and straight up to the thrones. The other petitioners jumped to get out of your way, scattering to the far walls. No one here had seen you in your armor. They were used to seeing you in the dresses of their world, as Loki’s darling soulbond and nothing more. They were seeing the violent side of you today. They were a warrior people.They understood.Tony followed behind you in guard position, letting you take the lead.

You knelt in front of the thrones, thanking all the gods that, Frigga, Thor, Sif, and Astrid, leader of the female warriors, were somehow all there where you needed them. “My Queen, I beg your assistance,” you told Frigga formally.

“Rise, Daughter. What is it you need?” she asked all formal politeness. You held up your arm with the gray soulbond marks. All of their eyes widened with the looks of horror on their faces.They knew that it meant, though you doubted any of them had ever seen it before.

“Loki is in danger. I need assistance to save him. Immediately,” you told Frigga simply. There was no need for more words when the proof was etched in your skin.

“Children, Astrid. Go. Bring my son home safely,” Frigga ordered. You curtsied to her, regardless of the fact that you were wearing pants. It was still the appropriate gesture.

“Thank you, my queen,” you replied formally.You knew she would do anything to save her son.Offering a few Asgardians, even some of their best warriors was just the tip of the iceberg of the help she could send.This small band would get you started, would be able to mobilize faster to get Loki out of immediate danger.

“Save my son,” she pleaded, tears in her eyes. She knew. They all knew that Loki would only break the soulbond if he were dying.

“I will, lady mother,”

Thor, Sif, and Astrid rushed to follow you from the room with Tony at your heels. “Sister, what happened?” Thor asked as you walked back to the portal. You explained what was going on as briefly as you could.

“Kat, don’t forget what Frigga said,” Sif warned.

“I know. It’s time,”

“Time for what?” Tony demanded, hating being left in the dark.

“Time to go save my soulbond,” you told him as you all walked through the portal. The portal snapped shut behind you, the second you were through.

“You don’t know where he is,” Tony protested.

“Yes, I do,” you replied. “I got his location when he broke the soulbond, but we don’t have much time. You have 30 seconds to request gear before we head out,” you told them all as you grabbed the last pot of monster-coffee from the table in the commonroom.

“Kat-” Tony started, but didn’t get further than that as you downed the entire pot directly from the carafe. You were not messing around with saving Loki. Thor, Sif, and Astrid requested weapons and gear which you summoned for them as you downed coffee from the pot.

Never drink an entire pot of monster-coffee at once.

It should never be drunk in general and should definitely never be chugged. You did both. You literally shuddered when it took effect about 30 seconds later. You were going to sleep for a month when the stuff wore off. You didn’t care as long as you saved Loki first.

“Ready?” you asked them. They all nodded when they were geared up

“What’s the plan?” Tony asked.

“I’m going to portal us in. I need you four to guard while I get Loki in decent enough shape to travel, and then we’re getting the fuck out of there. If he’s in bad enough shape that he broke the soulbond, it is going to take all of my magic and all of my healing abilities to get him stable enough to travel. I won’t be able to help you fight Balder or his cronies.”

“Lead on, Sister,” Thor said when they’d all absorbed your words.

“Shouldn’t we bring some more people?” Tony asked, hesitantly.Your group was deceptively small.

“There’s no one else here, Uncle Tony. Call backup to the location when we get there,”

You looked over at Pepper. “Can you handle opening another portal?” you asked her. Thor opened his mouth to offer, but you needed him at full strength, so you glared at him to keep him silent.Pepper nodded.You felt her power levels and saw that she had just enough for this.

“Good. You stay here after the portal is opened. You can’t handle opening two portals in one day. Especially since you don’t actually have magic,” you had the feeling that Tony was grateful you were keeping Pepper out of this fight.

“I can fight!” Pepper protested.

“Not this fight. Open the portal. That is enough. Let me save my magic for healing Loki.”She nodded and offered you his hand again. You glanced at Thor, Sif, and Astrid. “Never tell the Queen that I did this,” you ordered them. You reopened the wound on Pepper’s hand and used the same process as before, using forbidden blood magic to open the portal as you focused on Loki and the signal you had gotten from him when the soulbond broke. You had to shove your own power in to help break the portal through the shields. Sif and Astrid grabbed your hand and helped, though neither of them had much if any magic of their own. 

Together you punched through.

Pepper passed out on the couch she had been sitting on just as the portal opened. 

Thor and Tony flanked you as you ran through the portal. Sif followed a step behind with Astrid. The portal snapped shut the second you were all through. You would have to punch another way out of here.

That was a problem for after you saved your Loki.


	55. Chapter 55

You took a second to survey the room when you stepped through the portal. It was a cold underground dungeon-like basement. Maybe the lower level of a warehouse. It didn’t matter. What mattered was Loki. He was chained on the far wall from where your portal dropped you out. You ran to him with Thor on your heels while Tony and Astrid scanned the room for threats and making sure you were guarded and safe. You saw Sif’s hesitation. She wanted to go to Loki too, to help her brother-in-law.She steeled herself to do her duty and turned her back on you and Loki to defend the room.You and Thor would take care of Loki and yourselves.

You reached Loki first and were immediately horrified by what had been done to him. You didn’t think you could handle knowing how he’d gotten as injured as he was without being sick. And you were a healer, you thought you’d seen everything before.

Loki was hanging against the wall, bound by thick manacles on his wrists, the chain between which had been thrown over a hook in the wall, a heavy metal collar etched with runes around his neck. His feet could barely touch the floor, so he was barely breathing. He was battered and bruised, bleeding from who knew how many injuries. You could sense the broken bones. He looked starved, tortured, broken.

The thing that horrified you the most was that Balder had sewn his mouth shut.

Blood was still leaking from those wounds on his lips, from the cord woven through his lips, sewing them together.

You were hesitant to even touch him, he was so injured, but you had to in order to heal him. You wrapped your arms around him, carefully taking his weight. “Thor, get the hook,” you told him firmly, since he was just standing there stupidly, staring horrified at his brother. He snapped back to himself and nodded, smashing the hook with his hammer.

Loki collapsed against you, making a small noise of pain from behind his sewn lips. It broke your heart to hear.“Shh, love. I’m here,” you told him softly. Thor helped you lower him gently to the ground. Loki tried to open his eyes, though you saw how difficult it was. “I told you you was coming,” you smiled at him.

“Kat, there is not much time!” Sif called to you when she saw the state Loki was in.

You nodded, you knew that already of course, but there was something you had to do first, something you had to do for your poor peacock of a soulmate before you began the full healing. You pulled the slimmest, sharpest dagger you could from the sheath at your back and carefully, so very carefully, cut the cord sewing his mouth shut. If you could heal nothing else, he would at least not scar from that. You would make sure of that. You worked quickly, but so very carefully and managed to remove the string and heal the wounds with no scarring.

You threw your healing magic into the rest of him. There was only the hint of a spark of him still there.You were running out of time. You dumped more power into him, holding him to his body as you healed it around him.

“Thor, Uncle Tony,” you said softly, but even soft was enough to get their attention. They both turned. “This is an all or nothing healing. You both understand that, right? Either we both come out of this, or neither of us will.” You said the words sadly, but you knew you would go through with this healing regardless of the risks.

“That is what a soulbond is, little sister,” Thor replied with a hint of a smile. He understood.It was in his people’s culture. 

You nodded, grateful for his understanding, then turned to Tony, demanding his answer.You were doing this whether he agreed or not, but you needed to make sure he understood that.

“If you don’t come through this, I’m going to kill you, imp,” Tony growled.He couldn’t stop you, not when he knew how much this meant to you.

“I expect nothing less,”

“Kat. It’s time,” Sif told you urgently. You nodded, focused briefly on the healing magic you were throwing into Loki, then you moved so his head was cradled in your lap. You took both of his hands in yours. You hesitated another moment, the words tried to throw themselves out of your mind with fear, horror, and Loki’s pain. Loki had done this to save your life once, you could be strong and do it now. “Blessed be...” Sif prompted when you’d hesitated too long.

You threw all thoughts of this healing, of the torture Loki had been through, of your fear, of everything else out of your head. Instead, you thought of the last time you had said these words, standing in front of Loki in a ceremony in front of the entire court and all of Loki’s family.

You took on more deep breath before you started.“Blessed be the name of Frigga, queen of Asgard, and of Odin her king.” You spoke the words calmly, clearly, trying to focus on your Loki at his best, at his worst, every single facet of his being.He was the other half of your should.You knew that and understood it now. “In their names, with their power, and with joy in my heart, I make this vow. With their blessing, and with their heirs as witness, I give this gift. I choose you. To stand by your side and sleep in your arms. To guard and cherish, to bring joy to your heart. To learn with you and grow with you. Without your love, I am incomplete. I bind myself to you with these vows, willingly and wholeheartedly, free from doubt or reservation. With love I will tell you the truth as I understand it, I will honor and respect you. I will rejoice in your joys and weep in your sorrows. I will love and cherish you without cease, without pause, without hesitation for all of our days. You are my equal, my partner, my life. So I give this gift to you and you alone. I share my life and my soul with you. All that is mine is yours, I bind myself now to you, from this moment until the end of all of our days.”

You leaned down and kissed him, sealing the vow, praying desperately that it would work. For a long, terrifying moment you thought that it wouldn’t. Then you felt the surge of power between you. The piece of your soul that had been trapped in him when he broke the soulbond rejoiced when it was reunited with the rest of your soul. The soulbond snapped back into place like being separated was the strange thing, not being together. It was like it was always meant to be in place.

“Hurry, Kat! We don’t have time! Balder knows we’re here!” you heard Tony’s shouts. You ignored him. The soulbond was back in place and Loki’s lifeforce was draining your power far too quickly. You weren’t out of this yet, just because the soulbond was back in place where it belonged. You dove into your power, throwing every drop of healing magic and power that you could muster into him. You heard roars and shouts and sounds of battle around you. You didn’t even look up from Loki. You couldn’t.You were too trapped in the healing spells. You didn’t care that your vision was turning black. You didn’t care how dizzy you were. You didn’t care that you had burned through the energy that you had gotten from the awful monster-coffee concoction.

The only thing that mattered was saving Loki’s life.Saving your own in the process.

“Kitten, it is time to pay attention to the world around you,” a gentle voice bid, the accent was familiar, but you paid it no heed. You were a bit busy at the moment. The owner of the voice grabbed you gently around the waist, pulling you away from Loki and carefully to your feet. Your healing spells snapped when you lost physical contact with Loki. You swayed, dizzy and unable to clear the darkness from your gaze. “Focus, pet.” His hands were still on you, holding your arms, keeping you on your feet. You forced your hazy mind to think, tried to focus, tried to clear your mind, your vision, anything. You blinked rapidly and your vision finally started to clear. You looked up at the figure holding you on your feet, the only reason you were standing. You was somehow expecting Thor. The accent. It had to have been the accent.

Instead, it was Balder.

Of course it was fucking Balder.

You shrank back, terrified of being in this state in front of Balder. Fear cleared your mind a lot easier than his kind words and tone had. You tried to back away from him, break his grip on you. “There is my little pet,” he chuckled. He let you go, but you only managed a step backwards once before you had to lean on the wall for support. “I am not planning on harming you, pet,” he told you calmly. You glared at him and reached for a dagger. “I would not do that,” he warned. “You would not like the consequences.” He gestured behind him. You finally saw behind him and all of your friends and family were unconscious, bleeding on the ground. You dropped the dagger and held your hands up where he could see that they were empty. “You have lost, kitten. You are out of magic, or very nearly, your friends are defeated, your lover barely alive, and you can barely stay on your feet.” All of these were very valid points and points that you couldn’t dispute.“Now, I could kill your friends, take you for my plans, and keep my brother just alive enough that he does not kill you with that reforged soulbond of yours. Neither of us want that, now do we?” he asked kindly. He paused, his silence demanding an answer.

“No, we don’t want that,” you managed to answer. Your words were slurring. How were you even still vertical?Stubbornness?That had to be it.

“I did not think so. You would be quite sad and uncooperative were your friends dead. So let us make a bargain,” he said pleasantly.

You wanted to strangle him. 

“What bargain?” you asked warily. You had nothing to bargain with and you were quite sure he knew it.Which meant you had to agree with whatever he wanted in order for you to survive.

“You and my little brother will come with me, that part is not up for negotiation. You come quietly and I will forget that your friends are here. I will let them go, even Thor and Sif. I will even give you Loki as a consort. You can continue healing him and you will not have to fret about his safety. You have until you lose consciousness to make a decision, pet. Come with me, or your friends die, your lover chained in the dankest darkest dungeon I can find and you will never see him again,”

“Why?” you asked. “Why bargain?” you wanted to know why he didn’t just take what he wanted. You were defeated and you knew it.He was just gloating at this point.

“I want you to make the decision,” he replied easily.He was having far too much fun with this. You had no choice and he knew it. He wanted you to choose to be the villain, though, to align yourself with him to save everyone you cared about. Like that would make you a villain. You would just fight him another time.

You hesitated, tried to look like you were fighting to make the difficult choice. “You’ll let them live? You won’t hurt Loki?” you asked, letting fear creep into your voice.

He nodded. “I give you my word,” he purred.

“Then I’ll come with you,” you told him softly, though you hated that you had to say it.

“Wise decision” he commented. He called to someone outside of the room. A huge man came into the room. “Make sure my Queen’s lover is taken safely to her chambers,” Balder ordered the man. He nodded and lifted Loki carefully in his arms, and then teleported from the room with your Loki. You stepped off the wall, towards where they had been, as if to follow after them, tears in your eyes from your mistake of letting your Loki out of your sight. “He is safe, pet. I will even have the other healers care for him until you have recovered. I do not wish for my queen to be unhappy,” he added. You bit back a sniffle as you fought back the darkness overtaking your vision. “Now, let me help you home. How you are still on your feet is a mystery to me.” He stepped closer and you had to reach out and hold onto him to steady yourself. You hated it.Hated all of this.And especially hated him.He pulled you to him. “Shh, you do not need to fight anymore,” he whispered as he picked you up in his arms. You were too weak to fight him. You had drained too much of yourself into saving Loki, into bringing him back from the border of death. “Rest, kitten,” he bid you softly, almost like he...cared.

The world spun and darkness roared around and through you. You couldn’t fight anymore and had to submit to the darkness and the drastic overtaxing of your body and magic.


	56. Chapter 56

You came to what felt like a long time later, though of course. “Easy. You’ve been unconscious for awhile,” a female voice told you gently. You cracked your eyes open. It was so hard to get them to open or focus.You’d drained yourself so far by healing Loki. You were laying on a bed, but it wasn’t your bed, in a suite that wasn’t yours. You worked to sit up. It was so hard and your muscles trembled as you did. “Easy, my lady,” the female voice repeated. You looked over to the side of the bed and saw a small woman standing there. “Drink this,” she handed you a potion, obviously a healer by her demeanor. You drank the potion after probing its contents to make sure it was safe. It was a basic restorative draft. You downed it and three of its friends before you finally started to feel more like yourself.

You looked quickly around the room. It was a gorgeous suite, fancier than your suite at the tower. The bed you were on was huge and so soft and comfortable. Loki was laying on the other side, still with the manacles on his wrists and the collar around his neck though the chains connecting them were gone.At least he was safe and very not dead. You breathed a sigh of relief, even though he was still unconscious, and still healing. He was alive and he was safe.

“What’s going on?” you asked her, finally able to think enough to form words.

“King Balder wishes for you to get well. He has granted you these rooms as your own. There is a servant outside your chambers for any requests you may have. Take one of these every hour,” she indicated the collection of potions on the nightstand next to you. “And have your...consort take one of those as often,” she indicated the potions on the nightstand by him.

“Thank you,” you replied, bowing your head regally. You had picked up the gesture from Frigga. She scampered out of the suite as fast as she could. The second she was gone, you scrambled over to where Loki was laying to check on your Loki. “Loki?” you asked, checking him over with your healing gift. He was still injured, but not in immediate danger. Before you got to work on him, you went to the mirror in the bathroom. You needed to check your eyes. Jet black. Of course. You had brought Loki back from the brink of death. You had to be careful using any more magic. Really, you shouldn’t use more magic, but you didn’t have many options. 

You sat next to Loki on the bed after you looked at your eyes and held his left hand in yours.

It was then that you looked at the soulbond marks on your arm. They were back in all of their colors up your left arm, though they seemed to be etched in deeper somehow. There was also a swirl of gray added to the green, black, blue, and gold that were the original colors. It was a reminder that the connection had been broken once. You weren’t sure either of you could survive if it broke again. You looked at your other arm and was shocked to see the same swirling pattern of colors up your right arm. Those hadn’t been there before. You’d have to ask Loki about it when he woke up.

You whispered the word of power that was supposed to flare the magic in the soulbond. It didn’t work. The soulbond was too taxed keeping Loki alive to give you additional power now. You looked him over with your healing gift again and healed a couple of bones that hadn’t gotten healed all the way during the initial healing and made sure his cuts were at least closed. That was the best you could do right then.

You reached up and touched his temples, focusing your breathing. You didn’t use telepathy often, not like this. You dove carefully into his mind, apologizing silently for entering without permission. You searched and searched the empty chambers of his mind, looking for his self hiding within his mind. /Loki!/ you called. /Loki. It’s safe now!/ you called to him. He was hiding. Hiding from the torture. You didn’t blame him, it was the way for him to survive.You finally found the child-Loki hiding at the back of his mind, crying, huddled in a corner with his knees pulled to his chest. /Hello, Loki/ you greeted him, softly, gently. He looked up at you, shocked and confused, and just a little hopeful. You sat down on the ground in front of him. /We’re safe now/ you told him warmly.

/Kat?/ he thought back at you, so lost and small and broken.

You nodded and opened your arms for him. /It’s me. I’m here. I told you I would come find you/

/You came!/ His voice was so full of hope and childlike glee.

/Of course I came, my darling soulbond. I would never give up on you/

/Father would/ he replied sadly.

/Your father is a moron/ you replied dryly, making your tiny Loki laugh. /Are you ready to go back to your body now? It’s safe and I’m there with you/

He shook his head and looked sad. /The rest of me is still lost. I don’t know where he went/

You smiled gently, stood, and offered him a hand. /Shall we go look for him together?/ you asked. He jumped to his feet and took your hand. You smiled at him and set off to go find the broken pieces of his mind. You didn’t know how long you walked and searched for, but little Loki was a ball of happiness now that he was safe and you were with him so you didn’t mind walking with him. He bounced along beside you happily. He _did_ get tired at one point, so you carried him on your back for awhile while you looked for other pieces of his mind.

You finally came across a blue-skinned Loki with red eyes and Jotun markings. The little Loki was scared of him, and clutched to your hand. /It’s ok/ you told little Loki. /He’s you too/. You smiled at the Jotun Loki. /Found you/ you told him brightly, glad to see him.

/You were looking for me? But I’m a monster/ he protested, horrified that anyone would be looking for me.

/Never to me. You’re just another side of my soulbond, of my Loki/

He looked so hopeful, yet that fear was still there. /You are not scared of me?/

/Never, my love/ you held out your other hand to him. /Will you come with us to find the rest of you?/

He nodded gracefully. /I will come/ he replied.

You picked up little Loki on your back again, took Jotun Loki’s hand, and you continued on the paths through his mind, looking for the rest of the pieces.

Little Loki cried when you found the next piece. You picked him up and handed him to Jotun Loki. /It’s ok, little one. You don’t have to be afraid/ you had seen this side of Loki only once before. You would have to tread carefully with him. This was the side that had been hurt too often by Odin’s poor parenting and abuse. /Hello, darling/ you greeted him, gentling your voice.

/Mine/ He rushed over to you and wrapped his arms around you in a crushing hug.

/Always, love/ you replied with a smile. /You don’t have to fear. I’m not leaving you. I came to find you/

/You brought them/ he snarled, glaring at the pieces of himself.

/They’re you, silly trickster/ you laughed at him.

He softened a little, trusting you more than anything /Me?/

You gestured to the others. /Yes, you. We’re looking together for the missing pieces of you. Will you help?/

/I will help you/ his tone focused on you. His everything was focused on you.That was fine.

You walked for awhile, and herding three Lokis was like herding cats. You were tempted to tell them all to stay and rope them in one place while you found the other pieces, but that would be mean. Tempting as it was.

There were two more Lokis to find. One was Frigga’s son, the studious magician with his stack of books. You laughed at him and told him that Frigga wanted him to come home. He was ok to come with you after that.

The last was your Loki in the tuxedo he wore to the masquerade ball. /Hello, love. I’ve been looking for you/ you greeted him. He bowed and offered you a hand.

/Dance with me/ he bid gently.

/Loki, we have to get back to your body.../

/Surely we have time for one dance?/

/You are a creature made entirely of silliness/ you told him as you went to take your position for dancing with him.

/Mischief and chaos!/ they all protested. You sighed. All of these Lokis were just troublesome. Music started from somewhere and you danced with your Loki. The song was brief, but it was filled with joy and love.

/Will you come home now?/ you asked when the song was over.

They all looked confused.

/I don’t know how to fix this/ the studious one finally said.

You smiled gently./I do. Frigga taught me/ The hard part was over. They were all together. You said the words of the spell, of the healing magic, binding them back into one Loki, healing his mind and the bruised pieces of his soul. You felt your power flickering when you had finished. /Darling, I can’t stay. Can you find your own way back from here?/

/Yes, love. Thank you/ he replied.

You rose from his mind back to your own body. You pulled him into your arms as he regained consciousness. You knew what would come next. Frigga had taught you that too. He clutched onto you, sobbing out the last of the soul wounds, sobbing all of his pain and fear and hopelessness out. You held him close and promised that you were there for him and that you’d be ok.

Somehow, you would make it out of this mess.


	57. Chapter 57

Loki looked up at you when his tears had finally stopped.He wasn’t recovered from the mind healing, not really, but you both knew that you needed to focus on getting out of here.Healing could come later.“What happened?” Loki asked, his voice still breaking.

“A lot,” you finally answered. “What do you remember?” you asked, hoping for a place to start. You still hadn’t let go of him, you were far too glad to have him in your arms and alive to let go of him.

“Quite a lot of pain,” was his answer, in his dry tone. 

You couldn’t help chuckling at that.Loki was Loki no matter how bad he felt. “Well, you’re not wrong. Balder kidnapped you to get you here. Apparently, he’s been trying to put powers into others, and it isn’t working, so he wants me back since he can put those stupid powers into me, and was using you as bait,” you explained the short version of the story.

Loki rolled his eyes. “Of course you can hold them. You’re half Asgardian because of the soulbond. My brother is an idiot for not figuring that out,”

“We already knew that your brother is an idiot,” you replied dryly. “Anyway, after you were kidnapped, Tony took me back to the compound to heal from my injuries during the battle. That took too long for Balder’s liking, so he decided to hide you from me,”

“And torture me, yes I remember that part,” his voice was just as dry as before. “By the way, what was that foul concoction you shoved down your throat to boost your powers? Never drink whatever that was again, please,” he groaned at the memory.It had burned through you both with power.

You laughed again, glad to be able to relax with him in this brief respite. “That was coffee brewed with an energy drink instead of water with caffeine pills and sugar mixed in for added effect. Fury has already banned it in the tower to anyone who isn’t me,”

“I am banning it from you, darling. That stuff was wicked strong,” Loki grumbled

“It kept you alive, didn’t it? You were draining our power at an alarming rate. I did everything you could think of to keep us both alive,”

“Yes, well, Balder was not exactly pleasant to me, darling,”

You nodded, your expression growing grim and sour again. “I know. I healed all of the damage. So when you broke the soulbond, never do that again by the way, I did some things we will never tell your mother about, gathered Thor, Sif, Astrid, and Uncle Tony and we went to where Balder was keeping you,” you sighed. “We lost. I don’t know how, I was too busy keeping you alive and reforging the soulbond to pay attention to the battle. Balder brought the two of us here after the battle. Our friends are fine,” you added hastily.

“How do you know that?” he asked with panic in his eyes over Thor’s safety, over Tony’s and the rest of your friends.

“Balder made a bargain. If I went with him quietly, he’d let them live. There wasn’t a choice and I knew together we’d figure out how to escape from here,”

Loki nodded, accepting that answer, then thought to question: “What things are we never telling Mother about?”

“A whole hell of a lot of blood magic,” you replied guiltily. He gave you a look. “I got permission from everyone involved. And used my own blood for some of it. You were dying Lo,” you reminded him. That part was definitely a sticking point for using illegal magic.You really didn’t care what you’d had to do to save both your life and his.“I used blood to find you through the soulbond, which if you ever break again I will kill you,” you repeated. He chuckled at how often you were bringing that up.You weren’t going to forget that soul ripping feeling very soon. “And Pepper offered her blood to open the portal to Asgard so I could save ky magic for bringing you back from the brink of death. I figured, correctly, that the only reason in the universe you would break the soulbond was because you were dying,”

“You are correct in that, darling, and I promise never to do it again,”

“You better not,” you grumbled at him.

“So, have you come up with a plan yet?”

“Not yet,” you admitted. “My first plan was making sure you were alive and going to stay that way for awhile. Next on the list is a shower. Then we need to buy some time until at least one of us has some magic at our disposal again,”

“Your eyes are jet black, darling. You should not be using any magic,” he reminded you gently.

You shrugged. “I’ll do what I have to to get us out of here,” you reminded him. There really wasn’t much choice.You could recover _after _your lives were saved.

“Of course you will,” he sighed in loving exasperation.

“So our next step after bathing should be to figure out how to get those runed manacles off of you,” you thought aloud. He nodded. “And I have to play along with Balder’s plans until we figure out how,”

“And I do not?” He asked. You knew he was wondering why the execution of these plans would most likely entirely be yours, why he wasn’t going to be helping. You blushed. “What is it, darling, what trick are you playing?” you thanked all the gods that he knew you so well. You reached out and took Loki’s hand, speaking directly to his mind through the soulbond.

/Balder keeps calling me his queen and has said that he is letting me ‘keep’ you as a consort/ you admitted.

Loki laughed in your mind /My brother is a moron/ he informed you

/Yes, but you should be safe. I doubt he’ll even let you out of the suite. I’m the one who has to keep up the charade/

/Darling, you are nearly as skilled a liar and actor as I am. You will be fine/

You smiled, reassured by his faith in you. You managed to extricate yourself from his hold and got to your feet. You offered him your hands. “Come along, peacock. We need to get all of that blood off of you,”

“I can bathe myself,” he grumbled at you, too proud to want you to see him at less than his best.

You rolled your eyes. “So come join me, then,” you replied, stepping back. He swung his legs out of the bed and got to his feet. About three steps toward the bathroom his legs threatened to fall out from under him. You had ducked under his arm in an instant, wrapping arm around his waist and supporting his weight. “Come along, peacock,” you laughed and helped him to the bathroom while he growled about his useless weak body. “Love, you nearly died. The fact that you’re awake is a miracle,” you reminded him.

You managed to get him into the bath and all of the blood and grossness off of you without too much trouble, though Loki was embarrassed over being bathed.It wasn’t like there was anything sexy going on.You dried yourself off and found clean clothes in the bedroom of the suite. All of the clothes you had been provided were skimpy dresses. So you stole pajamas that were supposed to be for Loki. He didn’t comment on your choice, though you could see in his eyes that he was glad for it.You just wanted to wear pants. You didn’t trust Balder as far as you could throw him. Loki laid back on the bed, drained and exhausted. “Come, darling, let’s get some rest. We both need to rest in order to heal,” you nodded and joined him in the bed, laying your head on his chest where you could listen to his heartbeat.

“When did Mother teach you to soulheal?” he asked while he stroked your hair.You could tell from his movements that he was just as happy to have you back as you were to have him.

“When you took me there when my eyes were black last time. I shadowed her in the healing wing a couple of days and she showed me, though I couldn’t do the spells myself at the time,”

“Good thing she did,” he commented.

“I think she sees more of the future than she lets on. She sent me a warning that I would need the soulbond words and warned me to memorize them well,” you added softly, already succumbing back to sleep. You were safe, for now, Loki was alive and healing, you would figure out how to get out of this when you were more healed and rested.


	58. Chapter 58

A servant burst into the room, shocking you and Loki both back awake. You jolted up, reaching automatically for a dagger that wasn’t there. You cursed Balder silently for taking your dagger sheath from you, though you knew it had to be nearby. Loki had spelled it to teleport to you if it got too far away. 

At least Balder hadn’t been able to take your engagement ring, which gave you an idea for later. For now, you had to find out what this servant wanted.

“Apologies for the intrusion, my lady. King Balder wishes for you to join him for dinner,” she explained. You nodded, not surprised. Of course that asshole wanted you to join him for dinner.She laid out a dress on the end of the bed. “Dinner is in an hour and King Balder has insisted on this dress for the evening. Do you require assistance to get ready?” she asked.

You shook your head. Even if you did need help, Loki would help you, not some random servant who worked for Balder.“No. Thank you,” you told her regally. 

She gave a small curtsy. “I will return to escort you to dinner. Your...consort...is to remain here. One of the servants will bring him something to eat,” she added before you could make the demand.

You nodded regally again and dismissed her as if you owned the place.

“You learned some things while we were in Asgard,” Loki commented once she had left.

“What do you mean?” You asked, mostly to keep him engaged and talking, to reassure you that he was alright.You both knew it was a ruse.

“You did not learn how to talk to servants and the regal act here on Midgard,” he commented dryly.He knew it was a ruse, but entertained you nonetheless.

You laughed at him and his dry tone.Things felt so normal, despite everything. “I guess some things rubbed off by spending time with your family,” you replied as you climbed out of the bed so you could look at the dress the servant had left for you.You groaned when you looked at it.“Can I kill your brother yet?” you asked, growling at the dress.

Loki crawled across the bed over to where you were standing so he could see without leaving the bed. “I see no issue with killing him at this juncture,” Loki said dryly, before he had even seen the dress. He glared at it when he saw it. “In fact, I highly recommend that course of action and will gladly assist you in this endeavor,”

You couldn’t help laughing at that.

The dress wasn’t really a dress at all. It was two pieces. The top was a piece of silk that pretended to be a halter top. It barely covered your breasts and you weren’t entirely convinced it was completely opaque. The skirt landed at your hips and fell to the floor, made of layers of the same silk. “I can’t go out there like this!” you whined at Loki, going over to hug him for reassurance.

Loki’s arms wrapped around you reassuringly and he kissed your hair.“You will be fine, darling. I know this is hard, but you have said it yourself, we must play the charade until we can find a way out of here. I assume, since you have not done it already, that you cannot teleport us out of here.”You nodded in reply. Of course you had tried to see if you could teleport out of there. You couldn’t, there were too many shields. “Then we must bide our time until there is an opportunity. He will not hurt you. You are too vital for his plans. I know you can survive a little embarrassment, darling,” 

“I know,” you replied, your voice turning to a whine.You _could_ survive, you just really didn’t want to have to.

“I will be waiting here for you. Once dinner is over, you can come back here and cry on my shoulder and tell me all about how horrible my brother is.” That was all he could offer you at the moment.

You knew that he hated that you were going into danger without him. “Promise?” you asked instead of whining more, taking the comfort he was able to give.

“I promise,” he replied. You could hear the relief in his voice that you was taking the comfort he could offer instead of trying to fight for more, which he wouldn’t be able to give.

“Will you do my hair?” you asked him softly. “It always looks better when you do it,”

“Of course, darling,” he answered just as softly. You turned and let him get to work, carefully braiding your hair. His fingers were gentle and soothing as he worked, which helped you relax. When he was done, your hair was carefully done in such a way that the raven streak in it was prominently displayed. You grinned at him when you realized what he had done.He was making sure his claim was well-staked. 

After your hair was done, you searched throughout the suite for shoes to go with the ‘dress’. There was not a single shoe to be found in the entire suite. You snarled in anger over that fact. Lack of shoes was often a symbol of slavery around the world. You had a feeling it was in Asgard as well, though you weren’t going to ask Loki that question. He didn’t seem surprised there were no shoes to be found. You may have supposedly been a queen, but you were also a captive and Balder wasn’t letting you forget that.

You straightened your spine when your hour was up and the servant returned to lead you to dinner.“This way, my lady,” you followed the servant, knowing Loki was watching and listening to everything through the power of the soulbond. You were grateful for his presence, even if he wouldn’t be able to do more than observe.

/I am here, darling/ his voice spoke in your mind. He couldn’t use any of his own powers, but he could still talk to you through the soulbond.

/I love you and you know not to believe anything you say to Balder, right?/

/Obviously, darling. Lying to save our lives is always acceptable/

“King Balder, your Lady has arrived,” the servant announced as the dining room door was opened. You dipped into a curtsy when you were announced. You knew how to play this game. You just had to play it well. Balder stood from his chair and came over to you. He took your hand and lifted you from your curtsy.

“Come, kitten,” he bid. It took all of your resolve not to cringe or snarl, or react to him using that pet name. It was not his to use. It had been your father’s nickname for you.He led you to your seat and pulled your chair out for you. His moves felt stilted, like he wasn’t used to romancing anyone, or being a gentleman at all. That seemed strange, knowing the rest of his family.

/He was taught manners just like the rest of us/ Loki commented in your mind.

/You could have fooled me/

“How are you faring, pet?” Balder asked when the first course was served. You focused mostly on the food, making sure to get as many calories into your body as possible. You needed to get your strength back as quickly as possible.

You decided to play stupid in regards to his question. “This is all so overwhelming,” you finally said, looking around like a child in awe of all of the splendor. In reality, you’d seen better and prettier on Asgard.

He chuckled at your answer, accepting your dumb act. “I told you that you would be well taken care of, pet. Oh, and kindly do not think of setting any fires to get outside of the shielding. The shields extend past the mansion and my brother would not like the results of your escape attempt,” he commented conversationally.Loki was weak against fire and Balder would torture him if you tried to escape so obviously.

“Of course not,” you replied easily. You hadn’t thought that trick would work twice.Unlike Balder, you weren’t a complete dumbass.

Dinner would have almost been pleasant, had you not had to share it with Balder. He talked about himself the entire time, while you devoured every ounce of food on your plate while trying to look like you wasn’t being an uncouth pig.It was a careful balance.

“Rest well tonight, kitten. Our work begins tomorrow,” he bid you when the meal was over.

That sounded ominous.

You needed to get out of there.

Now.


	59. Chapter 59

You escaped back to ‘your’ suite and Loki the second you were able without flatly running away. You couldn’t let Balder see that you were afraid. And you were afraid, afraid of him, afraid of what he was going to do, and damn afraid of whatever he meant by ‘our work begins tomorrow’.

You _had_ to get out of there before Balder decided to block your powers, or worse. You were actually surprised that he hadn’t blocked them already, only your ability to teleport out of the mansion. There was probably also something keeping you from outright killing him, and you were sure it had to do with Loki’s safety, which is why you hadn’t tried it yet.

Loki was standing by the door waiting for you. You were glad he was doing better enough to be standing there waiting for you. You rushed to him and wrapped your arms around him the second you were inside, clutching him tightly, probably too tightly. You were scared and you were both in a really bad situation without a lot of hope that you could see. Your wits weren’t helping you come up with a plan to get you out of there either.

You had one partial plan and it was really stupid, so you were saving that for desperation or a last resort, so you were really hoping to avoid using it.

“Shh, it’s ok, darling,” Loki soothed while you held on to him too tightly. He stroked your hair and held you in his safe embrace. “It will be alright. Whatever he’s planning, he’s not going to hurt you.” You weren’t quite sure you believed him on that point. Balder wasn’t exactly logical all the time, and he was more than a little crazy. “Come, darling, let’s get you out of those awful clothes and into something more comfortable,” he bid gently. Had anyone else said that to you, they would have gotten slapped, or worse, but this was Loki, and he meant what he said. He wanted you in actually more comfortable clothes and knew you were uncomfortable being dressed up sexily for Balder.

You were soon back in the pajamas that were supposed to be Loki’s, cuddled in his arms in the bed.

“By the way, why are both of our arms decorated now?” you asked him. You hadn’t gotten a chance to ask yet, but both of your arms had soulbond marks, as did both of Loki’s. “Also, they did bring you dinner, right?” you demanded, remembering that too. They were supposed to bring him something to eat. You didn’t quite believe that they actually would.

“Yes, love. I ate,” he chuckled at your willingness to defend him. Despite that you were at a disadvantage, you _would_ defend Loki. “And you reforged the soulbond between us. This is the first I’ve _ever_ heard of that a soulbond has been reforged. I do not know how it happened either. We will have to ask Mother when we return to Asgard,” he answered, sounding just as perplexed as you felt. You didn’t _mind_ the new marks, though it felt strange and more powerful? More deeply powerful? You couldn’t quite tell.

“I was hoping you’d know. I don’t mind, but it is weird. And the marks seem like they’re... etched in deeper or something,”

He nodded. “Yes, I feel it too, but I do not know how or why,”

You tried again that night to reach someone via telepathy, or reach past the shields with your magic at all, but it just wasn’t happening, not without a lot more power than you had at your disposal.

You spent a long while more talking with Loki that evening about soul bonds, but neither of you came up with anything new, and eventually, you fell asleep wrapped in each others’ arms.

*

You were woken early by the servant the next morning. She had another skimpy outfit for you to wear that day with her. You tried to protest, but she insisted that Balder had requested it specifically. It was nearly identical to the ‘dress’ from the previous night. You hated wearing such a thing and hated even more leaving the safety of ‘your’ bedroom. You had to let her drag you from the room, though you did get her promise that she would make sure Loki ate something. She didn’t seem like she was lying to you, either, which was reassuring. You were good at spotting lies thanks to Loki’s abilities. You didn’t want to have to worry about Loki. You had enough to worry about for yourself.

You were led to a room that was a clone of the vault from Balder’s last mansion. “Good morning, pet. You are intelligent enough not to fight me, are you not?” Balder asked pleasantly. You wanted to strangle him just for that pleasant greeting. It was too early for this shit. “I would hate to have to have these strong men force you to behave,” the room held four huge bulking men, besides Balder. You didn’t have enough magic to fight all of them, not when your power was still healing and strengthening Loki.

“What do you want?” you asked, warily, though you had a good idea what he wanted, and what he had brought you here for.

“I want you to lie down on the table and be quiet while I gift you with all of these powers,” Balder replied pleasantly. That sounded like a terrible idea. No, a stupid-ass idea. You couldn’t help backing a step away, terrified. You remembered how much the first power had hurt. “Pet, you don’t want to fight me. I will win, and your lover will suffer,” he reminded you, his voice still pleasant. You loathed that he was threatening your Loki, but you knew you were outmatched at the moment.

You had to bide more time.

“I’m not fighting,” you told him, letting him hear the fear in your voice.

“There is no need to be afraid, kitten. You’re perfectly safe. Come on,” he bid, offering you his hand and waving the hulking men away. You didn’t have a choice. You hated not having a choice, but Loki’s safety was on the line, even moreso than your own. You took his hand and let him lead you to the table in the middle of the room, though you loathed every moment of it. The table was set at about his waist height. Balder lifted you by the waist and set you on the table effortlessly, though you flinched at his touch. You _hated_ being touched without permission, hated strange men touching you, especially after you’d been raped. “Lie down, pet.” You did what you were told, hating every second of it, and hating it worse when he used chains on your wrists and ankles to secure you in place. You panicked, fighting and crying from terror and PTSD, screaming as you pulled at your bonds, shrieking and your powers flaring. “Shh,” Balder said. “You’re ok. This is just so you remain still while you place the powers. No harm will come to you,” he promised. Still, you screamed and cried, and fought, your mind remembering that terrible party, the terrible night when you’d been drugged and your powers reawakened by force. Balder’s only response was to shove a wad of cloth in your mouth. “None of that. I haven’t hurt you.” You couldn’t even think enough to contact Loki, to get his support in this hell.

Balder left the side of the table briefly but came back with a giant basket of the power spheres. You just stared at it in shock and horror. That was a lot of powers. A _lot_ of powers. One by one, Balder held the spheres to your chest and said the word that put the power inside of you. You screamed at each and every one, long past the point where your voice gave out and your tears were spent. They all hurt like hell. You weren’t supposed to have any of those powers. They weren’t yours and your body knew it. You felt fevered and sick after the third or fourth one and were a helpless wreck long before the end of that torture.

You were nearly unconscious from it all before the end. That wasn’t the worst part. The very worst part was Balder taking your right hand in his and reciting words that were familiar, but he had changed them. You couldn’t pay attention to the changes, you could barely register the words at all. You couldn’t move as he yanked the gag from your mouth and forced a kiss upon you, and couldn’t fight the magic that burned into your arm

“Take her back to my brother, let’s see if the consort still claims to love her after this,” Balder demanded once he was done. One of the men lifted your limp body from the table. It took one on each side of you to hold you on your feet and drag you back to your suite, your limbs too heavy for you to walk on your own. They shoved you roughly inside where you collapsed into Loki’s waiting arms.

“Loki-” you murmured in a whispered croak too weak and tortured, too hoarse to be from anything from torture.

“Hush, darling. You’re safe now,” Loki soothed.

You collapsed in his arms with a whimper and remembered no more.


	60. Chapter 60

You spent what felt like days in a fevered haze. Even Loki’s ice skills from his frost giant heritage couldn’t ease it. The powers you’d been infected with weren’t yours and weren’t meant for you to use. Your magic was flaring uncontrollably as your body fought against the invasion of the foreign magic.

“Darling, please wake up,” Loki begged some indescribable amount of time later.

You managed to get your eyes to open and look at him. He was so worried and you saw the fear etched in his eyes.

“Are you hurt?” you asked him, your voice a hoarse croak.Your first response to that amount of worry and pain was that someone was injured. You were a healer before anyone else.

Loki managed a weak smile. “No, nor have I been the last five times you have woken and demanded that of me. You must wake up, this time, though,” he urged you gently. You worked to sit up. It took so much effort and you fought the power spike again, as well as the wave of nausea that came with it. “Are you awake?” he asked. You nodded. “The servants have been talking. Your powers are so far out of control that Balder wants to bind them. If he manages that, we will never get out of here. I’m sorry, darling, but we are out of time. If you have any plans in that wonderful mind of yours, now is the time for them.”

“I have one. It is a stupid-ass plan, though,” you told him, finally focusing on the trouble you were in.It was hard with your brain fuzzy and the world spinny and nauseous. 

“I think we will have to take the stupid-ass plan. We are out of time,” Loki said apologetically, though he stumbled over the word ‘stupid-ass’.

You nodded and stood. “I mentioned this is a stupid-ass plan, right?” you asked him as he got to his feet and joined you, moving to hold you steady. He nodded, looking even more worried. “Good, because this is really dumb. Don’t yell at me for it either. Or tell your Mother,”

“If it works, I will not yell,” he promised while you dug under the mattress for the knife you had stolen from dinner the other night. You’d had a feeling it was going to come down to this. “Kat-”

“No yelling,” you reminded him firmly.

“Can’t I help?” He asked desperately.

“You will. I am stealing every ounce of power you can get for this,” you told him. You held the knife firmly, noting that it wasn’t one of your daggers, which were better suited for this stupidity. It took more effort to make the deep slice across your arm than you would have liked. You hissed in pain and spoke the word of power that flared the power from the soulbond as you called all of your anger and fear to the front, purposely flaring the powers Balder had shoved into you. With all of that power and blood to make it stronger, you sped through the recitation of the portal spell and forced it open through all of Balder’s shielding. You were amazed when it actually sprang to life. It shouldn’t have.You shouldn’t have had enough power, not on your own.Or you would’ve done that sooner.“C’mon,” you grabbed Loki and shoved him through the portal before you went through.

You were in the throne room in Asgard an instant later, the portal slamming shut behind me.

The world was black around you. You had drained way too much magic way too quickly with that stunt. Your blood was running freely down your arm to the floor. You caught the dazed Loki and somehow lowered him carefully to the ground. He was ok, but you had drained his power too to get him home.

You managed to stand again and somehow looked up at Frigga’s throne and announced: “Lady Mother, I have completed your mission and returned your son home safely.”

With that done, you dropped like a stone into unconsciousness. 

*

There was light shining in your eyes when you next came around. You groggily forced your eyes open, fighting through the haze of healing spells to manage to do even that. “My children were getting quite worried you would never wake,” Frigga’s voice said gently from next to your bed.

You looked over at her and sat up slowly. “Is Loki ok?” you demanded, more worried about him than yourself.

She gave you a small smile. “Healers are all the same,” she said gently. “Yes, he is just fine. He is doing much better than you are. You completed your task and brought him home safely. He recovered a few days ago. I am sure he will be beating down the door shortly to come see you.” You sighed in relief at her words. You had worked so hard to get him home safely. “He also was very vague about telling me what happened and all of my children seemed to have conveniently forgotten certain pieces of the story. Would you care to enlighten me on what happened?” Her tone left no room for arguing, even though she was so perfectly polite about it.

You sighed hating being cornered into giving answers that would get you in even more trouble “How much trouble am I facing?” you asked her before you’d being.

She just laughed, an uncontrolled laughter you’d never heard from her. She was usually so formal and polite. “You are indeed Loki’s soulbond if that is your question when cornered. I have heard that question from him so many times while he was growing up that I lost count years ago. I will tell you the same thing I have told him all of these years: I cannot guarantee that your actions will have no consequences, but I can guarantee you that if you tell me the truth, I will do everything in my power to make sure the consequences are as light as possible,”

You sighed again, but told her everything that had happened from the moment you were attacked in the school cafeteria all that time ago. You didn’t lie to her and didn’t skip the blood magic you had used or the less than honorable ways you had fought, or the massively stupid things you had done to get both of you away from Balder. “Please don’t punish any of the others. All of the decisions were mine,” you finally finished.

“None of you will be punished,” Frigga finally said. “While your methods were not the best, you did not break any rules, since you _did_ only use your blood, or ask for permission first. I will send some additional books on blood magic and all of the rules and regulations that go along with it to your suite. I do not approve of its use, but at the same time, I accept that there is no such thing as fair when it comes to protecting your life or the life of someone in your care,”

You saw from the horror in her eyes that she knew you shouldn’t have had the power to get you and Loki out of there, even with blood magic involved.

You sighed in relief. “Thank you, Lady Mother,” you replied formally.

“Thank you for bringing your son home safely. I know what it cost you,” she indicated your bandaged left arm that you had sliced open. Your right had soulbond marks from both Loki and Balder. The marks from Balder were red and angry and looked like blood.

“Mother, you cannot hide your soulbond from me,” Loki’s voice was outside the door, only barely not banging it down.

“I was not hiding her. She has been here for days already,” Frigga called back lightly. “You may enter, though,” she added kindly. The door opened and instantly Loki was at your side, holding you tightly.

“I was so worried about you,” he whispered into your hair.

“I was worried about you too,” you told him, wrapping your arms around him. “I thought I’d lost you,” you whispered. You had been terrified when he broke the soulbond and every moment since. “If you ever break the soulbond again, I will kill you myself,” you told him with tears in your eyes. You both knew you didn’t mean it.

“I will not, darling. I promise,”


	61. Chapter 61

Your magic spiked again and you clutched onto Loki, trying not to retch. “Shh, darling,” he whispered, stroking your hair as he held you to him. “Mother, what is going on?” Loki asked Frigga panic in his frantic voice. 

“How many of those powers did Balder put into you, Daughter?” Frigga asked gently when the wave of powers and nausea eased.

You curled yourself in Loki’s arms, letting him hold you. You didn’t want to lose contact with him. You had nearly lost him. He’d almost died. He’d also almost died and taken you with him, but that was a completely different problem.“I lost count, but at least fifty of those spheres, probably more,” you finally answered, trying to remember what had happened. It was all lost in the haze of magic and pain.

“No wonder your powers are so far out of control,” Frigga commented sadly.

“These powers aren’t mine,” you reminded her. You’d only been studying magic for two years, but Loki had been studying his entire life, and you had the knowledge he had gained thanks to the soulbond.

Frigga inclined her head in agreement. “That is the other problem. Your body is trying to adjust to all of these powers that are not yours, as well as the second souldbond. It is a lot of strain, especially all at once,”

“It’s true, then? Balder really did manage to establish a second soulbond?” Loki demanded, holding you tighter.You were both horrified by the very thought of it. 

Frigga nodded. “He did,” she indicated the blood red line of power that ran up your arms.

“Why are the soulbond marks on both arms now?” Loki asked, displaying his own decorated arms.

“You broke the original soulbond, darling. Reforging it takes more. More of your soul, more magic, more effort, more sacrifice. You will not get a third chance. If it breaks again, the backlash of the break will kill you both,”

“How do we break Balder’s soulbond?” you asked. “We can’t let him keep it. He has access to all of the powers he put in me, plus my own and maybe Loki’s too. We can’t let him keep access to all of those powers,” you reminded them both. Neither of them would look at you. “Tell me,” you directed that comment to Loki. You couldn’t order his Mother around, but he was fair game.

“The only reason I could break the bond was because I was dying. It split my mind to do it. You did the healing. You know exactly what happened to my mind,” Loki reminded you.You’d had to go through his mind putting shards of him back together.

“I know. I put you back together.” You turned to Frigga. “Thank you for teaching me to do that, by the way.” She inclined her head. You turned back to Loki.“We can’t let Balder keep this soulbond. We can’t. I won’t!” You insisted with tears in your eyes. You would not allow yourself to continue to be bound to him.It was a violation and felt wrong and slimy, his being leeched into yours. 

“I know, darling, I know. We’ll come up with a solution, I swear. We can’t allow him to have continued access to all of our powers,” Loki told you softly, holding you firmly and kissing the top of your head. He held you safe in his arms, but for the first time, you didn’t feel safe there, not with Balder having complete access to everything you were.

“Did anyone tell Uncle Tony we’re alive?” you asked them, remembering that small detail as well.There were too many plates you were spinning and too much going on.

Loki nodded and gave you a reassuring look.“I sent him a message. He has rudely demanded to come see for himself. I wanted to wait until you were awake before allowing that request. I would prefer for your uncle to not attempt to kill me. It is bad enough that my own brother is attempting such nonsense,”

“Is Thor home too?” you asked. He was left on Earth the last you had seen him.

“Yes, Heimdall brought him home after your battle with Balder. He should have burst through the door by now. Surely someone had told him you are awake...” Frigga pondered, but didn’t have to worry much longer. A moment later, Thor and Sif appeared, bursting into the room to come hug both you and the very reluctant Loki. You laughed and welcomed their presence while Frigga looked on amused from the safety of the sidelines. She looked immensely pleased that four of her children were currently cuddled in a pile on the bed.

“What happened during the battle?” you asked them. You had been so busy healing Loki that you hadn’t noticed what they were up to.

“We lost. Spectacularly.” Thor replied with a sheepish smile. “Balder always was a good fighter, and he has only gotten better. He also had backup. I do not know why he let us survive, though...”

“I do,” you told them softly, embarrassed. “Balder is an asshole,” you glanced at the queen, horrified by cursing in front of her, especially about her son. “Apologies, your majesty,” you told her formally.

“I seem to have gone temporarily deaf and have no idea what you said,” she replied with a kind smile.

“Anyway,” you continued quickly, your cheeks still red in embarrassment. “After you were defeated, Balder ripped me from the spells while I was healing Loki. He told me he’d make me a bargain, if I agreed to go with him, he’d let you live and let me keep Loki. It was the only way...” You’d hated that you’d had to agree to go with him, but you’d made the only choice that you could. Thankfully, they all agreed with your logic and that it had been the only way.

“He really sewed your mouth shut?” Frigga asked Loki, horrified, while you were all telling her everything you remembered from that night.

He stiffened at the memory, but nodded. “He wanted to silence the infamous liar,” Loki finally said softly. “I am just glad he did not decide to remove my tongue, as that would have been much more difficult for my lady to heal.” He kissed the top of your head again

“I nearly lost you as it was,” you reminded him. “And don’t you dare break the soulbond again.” you grumbled at him, jabbing a finger into his chest.You weren’t letting him forget that lesson anytime this century.

“I will not, darling. You heard Mother. We would not survive a second breaking of it.”

“Children,” Frigga said to draw our attention back to her. “We need to know if Balder has access to your abilities, Loki,” she told you all gently, though her words were directed to Loki. You all looked equally confused at her.

“How are we supposed to know that?” Loki asked when she didn’t clarify. “We don’t know what powers he put into Kat,”

You thought over the experience. “What are his original powers?” you asked them.

“Water manipulation, like the water benders from that cartoon you made me watch,” Loki replied automatically, obviously wondering where you were going with this.

You thought it over a moment longer. “The powers he was collecting were to add to his own, he wouldn’t have given me water bending since he already has that one,” you’d latched onto Loki’s explanation. “So if I can do it now...” you directed that comment to Loki, questioningly. Logically, he would have access to the powers Balder had forced upon you, but Balder’s original powers he would only have if he could access them through Balder’s soulbond through you. If he could, then the opposite would work as well and the worlds were even more screwed until you took Balder down for good.

Loki looked impressed with your logic, but horrified by the implications. You saw him focus on the basin of water next to the bed.He gestured at it in a very water-bending way and you gasped as the water rose out of the bowl.

The emotion in the room was palpable as everyone’s hearts sank at the realization of what that meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I had prepared. This story was being rewritten from a terrible first person POV story. I'm out of those chapters now, so it will officially be added to the update rotation when I figure out what happens next.


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